


The Earth was Only a Rock Before it Met the Sun

by oxrosixo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Fluff, Growing Up Together, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Panic Attacks, Tiny Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29104920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oxrosixo/pseuds/oxrosixo
Summary: Akaashi Keiji falls in love with the boy next door and it’s really quite cute.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Konoha Akinori/Washio Tatsuki, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Shirofuku Yukie/Suzumeda Kaori
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Pluto

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :)  
> This ones gonna be a lil long but I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end!! I’ve written the first few chapters?? parts??? idk lol but yh I already have a pretty decent amount written for this story already so updates won’t take too long hopefully unless I get writers block ehehee  
> Anyyyywayys,, i rly hope u enjoy this cus I have fun writin it ((mostly ohoho))  
> Ily all have fun byebyyyyye <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of ladies have a baby and he’s adorable

Don’t tell me we’re lost.” Akaashi Hotaru asked her wife, eyes wide, disbelief radiating off of her in waves.  
“‘Course not! I’m not that stupid, Taru.” Akaashi Mei scoffed in response, not meeting her wife’s eyes as she scanned the road ahead of her.  
Hotaru clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes in honest amusement, rubbing soothing circles over her round stomach.  
Somewhere in her mind, Hotaru knew that this would happen, moving never went smoothly after all. She leaned back on her seat, gazing out of the window at the view beyond.  
They were currently atop a very large hill with an amazing view of the cute little suburb they were soon to be residents of, that was if Mei could win her endless war with the satnav. It was a seaside town, nestled between beach and wild woodlands that bordered all around, in Hotaru’s opinion, the perfect place to settle their growing family.  
“Is Keiji okay?” Mei asked, throwing her wife a glance as she paused at a stop sign.  
“Mmn, he’s fine. Doing a little dance at the moment.” Hotaru smiled fondly, revelling in the sensation of her unborn child shifting beneath her skin.  
“Good, keep that up Keij, mama’s gonna have a field day teaching you ballet.” Mei grinned, glowing.  
Hotaru rolled her eyes again at her partner’s antics.

They eventually found the right road, spotting the moving van already parked up outside the house with the movers chatting idly on the sidewalk.  
Mei pulled up into the couple’s new driveway, turning to their wife and waggling their eyebrows excitedly.  
Hotaru laughed, batting at her spouse fondly before undoing her seatbelt and lifting herself out of the car with great effort, huffing out a breath. Mei was there in a second flat, stabling their heavily pregnant wife with a hand on her waist and opposite shoulder.  
“Woah woah, slow down big mama! Gravity isn’t on your side at the moment, remember?” Mei grinned at their frankly pissed looking life partner, her curly black hair stuck to her sweaty face and her cinnamon brown eyes narrowed.  
“You’re telling me this now? Ugh, Keiji, baby, I love you but this is ridiculous!” Hotaru snapped at her spouse before looking down at her engorged midsection and shaking her head, thoroughly exasperated.  
Mei grinned at their wife before running away to greet the movers, their long, half platinum blonde, half chocolate brown hair flying out behind them as they went.  
Hotaru looked up at the house, it was modern, painted white and pale blue with large windows and a black roof. It was home now, the place where their child would be born and grow up. She got a little teary-eyed at the thought and decided to hobble over to the porch and sit down to give her constantly aching feet a short break.

The day passed in a flurry of heavy lifting and bickering over what went where, Hotaru cried three times and, by the time they were mostly set up and the movers left, was ready to sleep for a year. Mei, being the non-pregnant spouse, was supposed to be the rock that grounded them but in reality she was just as, if not more, emotional though she contained it well in the face of her usually strong and dependable, now heavily pregnant wife.  
The two of them collapsed, Mei assisting Hotaru down, onto their futons at half past eight that night, both exhausted and emotionally drained.  
“Well, at least we’re finally here now! That’s the really hard part over and done with.” Mei tried, rolling onto their side to smile warmly at their wife.  
Hotaru rolled her eyes, shooting Mei a look. “Yeah, until the baby comes next month and then we’ll have another eighteen years of the ‘really hard part’ ahead of us.”  
“Let’s just enjoy the month then! The last time we’ll have of just us for the rest of our lives!” Mei beamed, forever the mood maker.  
Hotaru smiled fondly at her partner, reaching out and taking their hand in her own, bringing it up to her mouth to press a soft kiss to the back of it. “You’re right. As always.” She sighed affectionately.  
Mei shifted a little closer to their tired wife, kissing her shoulder before bumping their forehead against it. “We’re gonna be the best moms.”  
“Yeah, we will.”

Mei was panicking. She was used to panicking, of course, but this was different. Her normally brilliant, strong, drop-dead-gorgeous wife was screaming, clutching onto her hand like it was a lifeline. She’d told herself to be strong, to be a stable foundation for her partner, but now she was sobbing, blubbering barely coherent reassurances at her wife whilst taking deep breaths herself.

They had woken up at five in the morning to soaked bedsheets and a rapidly breathing Hotaru clutching at her massive stomach.  
Mei had sprinted to the phone so fast that she’d tripped and certainly bruised her ankle, almost screaming at the operator to send an ambulance because her wife was having a baby for heavens sake!  
It was now almost midday and both parties were equally upset at this development, Hotaru for obvious reasons and Mei because watching her wife suffering was shredding her heart into millions of tiny pieces.  
“We can see the baby’s head! Keep pushing, you’re doing great, you’re nearly there.” The midwife was saying from between Hotaru’s legs and both the latter and Mei let out dry sobs of relief at the news.  
Five minutes later, the room was filled by the sweet tinkling cries of the black haired baby currently being cleaned up by the nurses.  
Hotaru stared after the sound with a dazed expression, expectant, longing. Mei, too, felt something strong and warm bubbling in the pit of her stomach, something akin to fierce possessiveness and affection so strong it made her heart ache.  
The nurse turned around and approached the pair with a gentle smile, handing the bundle of wailing blankets to Hotaru. She looked down at the face of her son for the very first time and felt whole, warm tears trailing down her cheeks as she stroked his fluffy black curls, watching his tiny face as he ceased his crying to gaze back at her with wide, newly discovered eyes.  
“Hello, Keiji dearest. You sure took your time coming outside to meet us, huh?” She cooed down at the dainty baby, a feeling of complete euphoria washing over her.  
“He wanted to make a dramatic entrance, just like his mommy!” Mei grinned, peering down at their son with glowing icy blue eyes.  
Keiji found their face then, staring up at them with just as much blank wonder, dark eyes fixed on their split toned hair.  
Hotaru giggled, leaning into her spouse, rocking her tiny baby gently and cooing at him like she’d been doing it forever, fulfilling her new role effortlessly and nailing it immediately.  
Mei pressed a kiss into their blissed out wife’s hair, reaching their hand out to the fresh child and letting out a delighted laugh when he grabbed onto their pointer finger with his tiny fist.  
They stayed like that for a long while, just basking in the glow of new life and the feeling of a finally complete family.

*~*~*~*  
Eight Weeks Later.

Hotaru was losing her mind.  
She’d been fully prepared for the sleepless nights and stress headaches, fully prepared to drop everything to care for her newborn child but what she hadn’t been prepared for was the lack of any of that.  
Simply put, Keiji was an angel.  
He slept most of the way through the night and barely cried. He wasn’t fussy or choleric, in fact he was quite content with just sleeping or observing his mothers’ as they spoke to him in soft coos and babied tones. He definitely cried but it never lasted long as he was very easily calmed.  
At night, Hotaru and Mei had bought an attachable crib that clasped onto the side of their bed to make it easier to feed him in the night and for peace of mind since Hotaru had proved herself as a hoverer.  
Hotaru would lie awake at night just watching him sleep, the way his face twitched sometimes and hands grasped at air. She could never resist the urge to touch him, a gentle stroke across his soft, round cheek or a light hold over his tiny fist. She could spend the rest of her life just admiring her beautiful baby, telling him every moment of every day just how much joy he brought her and how complete he’d made their lives.  
She would take him on walks around the neighbourhood or local park, point out different birds and trees and even the occasional squirrel. He watched the world go by with a sort of calm intrigue, dark eyes latching onto anything that was brightly coloured or moved a lot. He even made small cooing noises at times, kicking his legs and bobbing his arms in the typical infant fashion.  
Oh, and the compliments they got! Every time they went anywhere with him, someone would always stop them to look into the pram at him and gush over how pretty he was.  
The woman at the local convenience store would always stop them to ask how they were holding up, giving them tips and telling them about her grown children.  
Mei’s parents called often to ask about him, too. They were the very definition of doting grandparents, mailing them care packages weekly with everything from diapers to baby books and toys.  
Hotaru, being a retired model and currently employed in the business side of runway fashion, always dressed him immaculately. She would spend hours pouring over designer baby magazines, making notes on designs she loved but wanted to alter slightly to fit Keiji just perfectly.  
They fussed over him like no one’s business, bickering over the temperature in their house and going into panic mode whenever he even burped a little differently.

One night, they got into an argument. It wasn’t serious by any means but enough for them to both want some space.  
So, that evening, Mei took Keiji out on a drive.  
They drove down to the seafront and took him into a baby carrier, their preferred method of infant transportation, making their way down the beach to sit in the sand right by the surf and watch the sun go down.  
“Keiji, do you think Mama hates me?” They asked the baby in a soft voice.  
They hated fighting with Hotaru, they loved her more than anything else in the world, besides Keiji, and couldn’t stand being mad at her or having her mad at them.  
Keiji cooed, leaning his head back to stare up at his mother, almost like he was replying to their question, willing them to go on.  
Mei laughed quietly, stroking their adorable baby’s soft black hair, the hair he’d inherited from the love of their life.  
“When I first met your mama, I didn’t know I liked girls. I thought she was gorgeous, yeah sure, but I thought that was all. I didn’t expect to fall in love with her, I didn’t ever even dream she’d fall in love with me, but she did and she was the one that asked me out.” Mei still had no idea how she’d ever gotten so lucky.  
She remembered those beautiful cinnamon brown eyes watching her from across the room, the way her eyelashes fluttered so seductively as she bit the end of her pen, and yet she’d been completely oblivious to the clear signs of interest. She’d blushed at the attention, sure, but that was just because she was young and confused and that literal runway model was looking at her like that with those eyes and that mouth.  
Mei was only a senior photographer’s personal assistant at the time, she’d been there with him to take photos for some advertisements about an upcoming fashion show the following summer. She had been twenty years old and completely clueless as to who she was, who she was interested in and where she wanted to go with her life.  
Then, of course, an actual supermodel had asked her out and all hell broke loose.  
She remembered cherry blossom picnics and skinny dipping in a hotel pool on a summer night. Kisses filled with passion and laughter that made her entire body feel like liquid.  
Mei remembered the way Hotaru had looked when she’d asked Mei to live with her and the first night they’d spent together in their shared Tokyo apartment. She remembered their first fight and how they’d made up, she remembered the night she asked Hotaru to be her wife.  
Keiji cooed again, reaching up a tiny hand to touch the glistening liquid freely falling down his mother’s face.  
Mei laughed wetly, wiping at her eyes and sniffling.  
“Sorry, bubs. I just, I really love mama, you know? Ugh, I’m a jerk. Let’s go home, you can help me pick out some flowers on the way, yeah?”  
Keiji let out a high pitched baby noise, kicking his legs, and Mei could’ve sworn he was smiling up at her.

*~*~*~*  
5 Years old.

Mei huffed out a quiet breath, watching the mist as it floated out from between their lips.  
“Keiji, c’mere!” They called out to the small boy currently inspecting an especially large pumpkin several metres away.  
He looked over his shoulder at them and beamed, hopping up out of his squat to begin running at them at top speed, laughing loudly like it was the most fun he’d ever had. He was wearing a thick, canary yellow winter coat and his eternally messy ebony curls got tussled in the icy wind as he ran, his round cheeks and button nose stained delicate pink.  
Mei grinned down at their son, stooping to sweep him up in their arms and bump their noses together affectionately. “You wanna go on a tractor ride, bubs?”  
Keiji stared at them with his eyes wide and mouth gaped open in a look of overjoyed disbelief before nodding enthusiastically, wiggling in his mom’s arms.  
Mei laughed, plopping him back down on the ground and taking his hand, towing him to the pickup point for the tractor rides, chatting to him all the while.  
“Mommy, does the tractor go fast?” He asked, staring up at them with curious dark teal eyes.  
“Hmm, not very fast, no. But it’s high up.” They told him, watching his little face as he mulled over her words.  
“That’s okay then. I don’t like too fast.” He replied, nodding to himself, staring ahead of them.  
Mei laughed, ruffling their son’s mess of black curls fondly.

The tractor ride went about as well as Mei had expected, Keiji pointed out every single animal they passed and held onto their jacket with a vice like grip since the bumpiness of the ride scared him.  
When they got off at the end of the circuit, Keiji ran off ahead of his mother, whooping and cheering. Mei rolled their eyes exasperatedly, jogging after their small child, back into the pumpkin patch.  
Keiji was once again sat in front of that massive bright orange pumpkin, watching it with starry eyes and mouth slightly open in a silent ‘wow’.  
Mei crouched down next to him, looking at the stupidly large pumpkin as well. “You want this one, huh?” They asked, resigned to their fate of hiking it into the boot of the car.  
Keiji nodded vehemently, smile lighting up his already rosy face. “Uh huh Uh huh! Mommy, I love this one! I wanna name them Kumanomi!”  
Mei raised their eyebrows before bursting into raucous fits of laughter, ruffling her son’s hair and springing up out of her squat. “Alrighty, let’s go find the salesman then.”  
Keiji took her hand and let himself be led away from the object of his affections. “Yeah!”

Once safely in the car, Mei turned to grin at their son.  
“You have a good day, bubs?” They asked, equal parts amused and affectionate.  
“Uh huh! I’m gonna show mama Kumanomi and she can help me and you name the little ones we got!” He exclaimed enthusiastically, kicking his feet in his car seat.  
Mei laughed, turning to the wheel and starting up the ignition. “She’ll like that. Now, let’s get home before she freaks out, yeah?”  
“Yeah!”

When they arrived back home, Hotaru immediately scooped up Keiji onto her hip and bumped their noses together affectionately.  
“Were you good for mommy, Kei-chan?” She asked him softly, glancing at Mei for their opinion.  
They nodded with a grin, holding up two thumbs.  
“Yeah! We got a really big pumpkin and rode in a tractor and I saw a cow!” Keiji exclaimed, bouncing in his mother’s arms excitedly.  
“Oh! Really? Wow, that sounds like so much fun! You wanna tell me about it while I finish up on dinner?” Hotaru asked him, smiling.  
“Yeah! I can help!” The small boy was practically vibrating at the idea.  
Mei barked out a laugh, leaning over to kiss their wife and plant another on Keiji’s head before heading off to their in-home studio to get some work done.

Keiji talked and talked, telling his mother about everything from how long they had to wait at a particular traffic light to the crows he’d encountered in the pumpkin patch. He insisted that they were having a conversation, cawing back and forth for ages and hopping around together.  
Hotaru laughed, agreeing with him.  
When dinner was served , Keiji sprinted off to collect his second mother and returned with them in tow, babbling at them animatedly about how he’d helped make the food and even put the rice on the plates. Mei chuckled at their son and the three of them had dinner at the kotatsu, talking animatedly.  
Afterwards, Keiji played with his toys on the sitting room floor for a while before bedtime, giving running commentary on the apocalyptic world his stuffed onigiri was trying to save from the evil hands of a plastic car.  
He eventually fell asleep nestled between his mothers, onigiri and car clutched to his chest.  
Hotaru scooped him up into her arms and she headed up the stairs to Keiji’s bedroom, wife in tow. They tucked him in and each kissed his forehead goodnight, wishing him sweet dreams before heading back down into the living room to relax and watch their show together.  
Mei sighed, leaning into their wife and closing their eyes contentedly.  
“I don’t know where he gets all that energy from.” They mused in a dreamy voice.  
Hotaru snorted. “You, probably. You’re the hub of excitement and interesting activities while I’m the one who has to yell and settle him down.” She replied breezily, running her fingers through her partner’s hair.  
“Mhm. The dream team, best moms ever.” Mei grinned.  
“Oh yeah. The greatest.”

*~*~*~*  
7 Years old.

Keiji ran down the stairs at full speed, taking them two at a time. He ran into the kitchen and against his mother’s side, latching on to her like a baby koala.  
“Oh, Kei-chan, what’s the matter?” She asked softly, stroking her fingers through the curly black hair that matched her own.  
Keiji shook his head against the fabric his mother’s shirt, hiding his face against her side.  
Not a moment later, there was a knock on the door and Hotaru disengaged from Keiji’s tight grip on her to go and answer it.  
Keiji made a small sound of anguish, sprinting after his mother, hiding behind her legs as she stepped into the genkan and opened the door.  
“Oh! Hey, sorry to bother you but we just moved in next door and wanted to introduce ourselves.” Said the tall woman stood on the doorstep, her golden eyes flashing as she grinned down at Hotaru.  
“Oh my, I’m so sorry we didn’t come and greet you right away! My partner’s out at the moment, but it’s very good to meet you. I’m Akaashi Hotaru and this-“ She shifted slightly to gesture down at the small boy attached to her, ruffling his hair. “Is my Keiji.”  
“Bokuto Rukia! The pleasure’s all mine! Hey there, lil dude.” She shot Keiji a wink, her broad grin seemed permanently fixed to her face, even in speech. “I’ve got three of my own, Junko’s fourteen, Satsuki’s eleven and Kou’s eight. We’ve got a full house!” She ended the sentence with a boom of laughter that made Keiji jump.  
“Oh! That’s nice, right Kei? Maybe you can go round there to play, hm?” Hotaru smiled down at her son, voice soft.  
Keiji looked up at her, startled, before looking back up at the looming silhouette of the woman on their front porch. She had messy silver hair that stopped right above her shoulders and the muscle definition in her arms was akin to that of the statues of Greek gods.  
She beamed down at him, eyes lit with the golden flames of the mid afternoon sun.  
“Ok…” Keiji murmured into his mother’s hip, hiding his face again.  
“Great! They are just gonna love you!” Rukia clapped her hands together and took a step back, “Alrighty, I gotta get back before the kids terrorise their father into an early grave! It was great to meet ya, I’ll see ya around!”  
With that, she bounded off of the porch and jogged over to her own house, disappearing from view.  
“Well, she seems like great fun, hm Kei-chan? I wonder if her kids take after her.” Hotaru laughed good-naturedly, shutting the door and heading back to the kitchen.  
Keiji followed behind her, lost in thought. Would he be able to keep up with the neighbours kids if they were just like their mother? He wasn’t so sure, but he was intrigued nonetheless and his mother seemed excited enough, so why not?

The next day, Keiji found himself face-to-face with his answer.  
He stood at the front door, a pale green ball with white polka dots under his arm and shy smile on his face. He had his mother’s eyes, and most of her hair though there were black streaks running through it in random places.  
He wore a stretched white teeshirt with a tawny brown cartoon owl on the front of it, the words ‘have a hoot’ written beneath it in pale green cursive.  
“Hey hey hey! You’re Keiji-kun huh? Nice to meet’cha! I’m Bokuto Koutarou!” He greeted, voice loud and excited, his initial nervousness dissolving instantly.  
“Hello… Bokuto-san.” Keiji replied, remembering his lesson about formal introductions and appropriate use of honourifics.  
“Aw man! C’mon! Call me Koutarou! You sound like an a hundred year old grandma!” The other boy groaned, wilting dramatically.  
“Okay. Then… you can just call me Keiji. It’s very good to meet you.” Keiji bowed.  
Koutarou chuckled, loud and unabashed. “Great! Hey, let’s go play, yeah?” His eyes sparkled with excited anticipation.  
“Sure… let me just go tell my moms and I’ll be right back.” Keiji promised, leaving the door open as he ran back into the house to alert his parents.  
“Mom, mama, I’m going out to play.” He said with a small smile.  
Mei’s eyes visibly widened whilst Hotaru just smiled, nodding.  
“Have fun Kei-chan, don’t go too far, I’ll call you back for dinner.”  
“Yes mama! Thank you!” And with that, Keiji sprinted back to the door, pulling on his shoes and following Koutarou’s lead down the garden and across the road to the grassy hill they lived on the edge of.  
Koutarou was loud and excitable, his energy endless and contagious. They stayed out until the sun was setting and they both got called back home.  
Koutarou told Keiji he’d see him tomorrow and, when the next day came, there he was, stood at the front door with a face completely alight with nothing but the purest excitement. He practically buzzed as Keij pulled on his shoes and followed him back across the road, telling him about Tokyo and how he missed the sound of the endless flow of cars passing his house at night but the cicadas were just as good.  
Keiji listened intently, taking it all in, asking questions about the huge city the boy had lived in his whole life up until now and revelling in every detail Koutarou provided.  
They played basic volleyball on the grassy knoll and talked about everything they could possibly think of, Keiji told the older boy about his ballet practice and how he loved to read. He told him how much he loved the sea and the sky and the woods, about how his mom was always taking them on wild adventures on the weekends and how one day he’d like to have a dog.  
Koutarou was a great audience, he asked questions and always looked genuinely star-stuck with the answers he was provided.  
By the end of their second day together, Koutarou was proclaiming their undying friendship and making Keiji promise that he’d see him again tomorrow and the next day and every day for the rest of time.  
Keiji startled a little at this before smiling warmly at his new friend and agreeing without a second thought.  
“Awesome! You’re the best, Keiji! I’ll see you tomorrow!” And with that, Koutarou grappled Keiji into a tight hug, lifting him several inches off the ground and rubbing his cheek against the smaller boy’s affectionately.  
Keiji felt his face turn pink and his stomach jolt slightly but returned the embrace.  
When Koutarou set him back on the ground he was beaming from ear to ear, golden eyes sparkling something fierce. He waved animatedly as he ran backwards away from Keiji back towards his house.  
Keiji watched him go with a soft smile of his own, waving back. His chest felt warm and skin was still flushed, he was glad Koutarou was his neighbour, his friend.


	2. Neptune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji feels things that he doesn’t understand and Koutarou is being kinda sus

10 Years old.

“And then I hit the ball so hard that it made this huge boom when it hit the floor! You shoulda seen it, Keiji! It was so awesome!”  
Keiji smiled. “Didn’t your hand hurt afterwards?”  
Koutarou thought for a moment before his expression suddenly turned sheepish, looking away from Keiji with pink cheeks and nervously rubbing at the back of his neck.  
Keiji laughed softly, shaking his head in fond exasperation at his best friend’s antics.  
“It wasn’t too bad though! It was just a bit tingly and sore but it went away! But can you imagine if I hit someone? Woah… they’d probably be dead, huh?” Koutarou mused, looking up at the ceiling with a dazed look in his eyes.  
“Mmn, you should focus on your accuracy then. I don’t think you’d survive prison, and trying to get rid of a body would be quite troublesome.” Keiji replied, turning back to his homework.  
“Keiji! I so too would survive in jail! And you’d help me hide a body? Really?” Koutarou threw himself against Keiji with the force of a small car, craning his neck over the smaller boy’s shoulder to get a look at his face.  
“Well, if you were to kill someone, I’m pretty sure you’d coming running to me, crying and begging me to help you, so yes. I don’t think I’d have much of a choice. That’s why you should focus on the accuracy of your spikes from now on, Koutarou.” Keiji said matter-of-factly, continuing on with his work despite the weight of the other boy draped over him.  
“Right! I’ll make sure to pay real close attention to that from now on! I don’t want to make you an accomplished in murder!”  
“I think you mean ‘accomplice’, Koutarou. And yes, that’d be preferable.”  
Koutarou laughed, loud and rambunctious, the force of it shaking Keiji.  
He clicked his tongue, glaring at the line of ink now marked across a good quarter of his page from where his hand had slipped mid sentence from Koutarou’s jostling.  
“Oh man! I’m sorry Keiji!” The silver haired boy yelped, jumping back, away from Keiji.  
“It’s fine, I can just copy this all down on a new page. I wasn’t really happy with the presentation of it, anyway.” Keiji replied, hand absentmindedly rubbing the spot where Koutarou’s chin had been resting on his shoulder.  
He felt oddly cold now.  
“You’re so smart, and you work so hard all the time! It’s crazy! Good crazy!” Koutarou mused in awe, catching Keiji’s eye and placating his confused frown with an easy grin.  
Keiji rolled his eyes, going back to his work once again, tearing the offending page out of the workbook and beginning to copy down the phrases onto a fresh one, a small smile on his lips.

It was just another Saturday, this weekend was Keiji’s place, next would be Koutarou’s again. They’d been doing this for nearly three years now, every Saturday they’d have a sleepover at each of their houses in turn and just talk about school and their respective clubs and interests, doing homework, playing outside and watching movies.  
It was different now though, Koutarou would be starting junior high school in the approaching spring, effectively leaving Keiji alone in middle school for a whole year before he too graduated to junior high.  
It’d be the first time since they’d become friends that they’d be attending different schools and this fact made Keiji far more anxious than he’d ever admit out loud.  
“You’re so gonna miss me! Come on, don’t lie!” Koutarou had teased after he’d gotten his acceptance letter from his school of choice earlier that month.  
Keiji shifted awkwardly, not meeting his friend’s eyes.  
“That goes without saying.” He mumbled in response.  
Koutarou frowned at the quietness of his voice, leaning over to look into Keiji’s face properly.  
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked softly.  
“It’s just… it’s nothing. It’s stupid. I’m excited for you, you’ll finally be joining a proper team and playing real matches. I can’t wait to see it.” Keiji smiled at his best friend, his words warm and genuine, but Koutarou knew him far better than that.  
He hadn’t missed the fragility of the smile or the shake in his voice, the way his dark teal eyes had sparkled just a little too brightly.

Koutarou‘s sudden silence made Keiji look up from his homework, squinting at his best friend’s unusually still form leaning up against his windowsill, staring out of the window and up at the sky, his face hidden.  
“Is something the matter?” Keiji asked quietly, setting his pen down.  
Koutarou huffed, turning around to grin down at the smaller, dark haired boy.  
“Not really, I’m just worried about you.” He said breezily, grin widening at the pink now dusting Keiji’s cheeks and the way his eyes dropped to his hands, fidgeting in his lap.  
“You don’t need to worry about me, Koutarou, I’ll be fine.” Keiji said softly, lifting his gaze again to give the older boy his usual small smile.  
“Ugh! This is why I’m worried! You think way too much and only for other people! I’m here, you can tell me about it, y’know.” The silver haired boy huffed out another breath, looking tiredly amused.  
“Well…” Keiji shifted again, pulling at his fingers more feverishly now. “I’m worried about what it’ll be like when you move forward without me, we’ve always been together through middle school and now you won’t be there anymore. I have friends in my year, but not many and we usually only talk during classes since I’ve always been with you at break… what if they don’t want to hang out with me outside of class? What if I’m all alone? What if… you forget about me?” The last question was almost silent, a broken whisper that hadn’t meant to escape his subconscious but did so on its own nonetheless.  
His biggest worry.  
Koutarou was in front of him in an instant, kneeling down in front of him and taking the smaller boy’s restless hands into his own, fixing his fierce golden eyes onto the now damp teal ones above him.  
“Keiji. I could never, never, forget about you. We’re best friends! I live next door for gods sake! And not only that, you’re like a massive part of my life, you don’t just forget about people like that! We’ll still see each other after school and on weekends, in fact I’m certain that you’ll be seeing me so much that you’ll get sick of me! I’m gonna miss you way more than you’ll miss me, I’m moving to a whole new school and, yeah I have Konoha and Komi and Sarukui and those guys but I won’t have you! Bossing me around and putting up with all my dumb yelling. Who’s gonna eat my fourth onigiri? Who’s gonna tell me cool new words and get excited about the birds that we see outside the window with me?” Koutarou’s eyes were equally damp now, his voice beginning to waver the longer he spoke.  
It only then occurred to Keiji that Koutarou might miss him as well. He’d been so focused on being left alone, the outwardly shy and awkward kid he was, and not being able to properly socialise without his loud and enthusiastic best friend around to break the ice that he hadn’t even considered the possibility that he could be missed as well.  
Now that he thought about it, it did make sense. Just as much as Koutarou had always been with Keiji, Keiji had always been there for Koutarou. Their other friends referred to them as though they were a singular entity and that was pretty much the case, they walked to school together, spent the entire morning before classes started together, they found each other in a matter of minutes at the beginning of break and spent the entirety of that paired up as well.  
It was just like Komi always said, “if you’re trying to find Bokuto, look for Akaashi, if you’re looking for Akaashi, find Bokuto.”  
Keiji smiled down at his watery eyed best friend, freeing his hands from the other’s grip to instead bring them up to his face and hold his cheeks in his palms.  
“Yell at Konoha, you know he loves that, and just ask your mom to only give you three onigiri instead. Read a dictionary and take a picture of any birds you see so that we can talk about them after school. I’m sure we’ll be just fine, besides, I haven’t gotten sick of you yet so I don’t think I ever will, it might just be impossible.” Keiji told Koutarou in a soft, soothing voice, smiling down at him fondly.  
Koutarou nodded in Keiji’s grasp, leaning into the touch and closing his eyes, taking deep breaths in effort to compose himself.

Hours passed in relative quiet, the two boys mulling over the new information they’d each gained and enjoying one another’s company.  
It was dark outside now, the clock on the wall above Keiji’s bed reading 10:37pm.  
It was still warm, it was only the beginning of September after all, the scorching heat of summer still present on an odd day but it was mostly just comfortably warm now.  
The sky was usually clear and flawlessly blue but it was starting to cloud over more and more often as fall settled in, draining colour from the leaves.  
“We’ve still got seven months, we’ll just have to make the most of them.” Keiji found himself saying aloud, staring up at the ceiling from where he’d moved to lie on his back on his bed.  
Koutarou hummed in agreement from his futon on the ground beside Keiji’s bed.  
“Like what your mom says, let’s make some epic memories!” The white-silver haired boy proclaiming, pumping a fist into the air.  
Keiji laughed, closing his eyes to the growing hazy warmth seeping into his consciousness.  
“If you’re involved, all the memories are epic.” He murmured sleepily, letting his mind slip away.  
He didn’t see the blush creeping over Koutarou’s face nor did he hear the shuffle of his sheets as he sat up to gaze at him.  
“Night Keiji.”

*~*~*~*  
12 Years old.

Keiji entered the front door silently, shutting it softly behind him and bending over to take his shoes off. He padded through the house, to his mother’s studio and knocked on the door quietly.  
Mei appeared there a moment later and stared down at her son with wide, concerned eyes.  
“Keiji, what’s wrong? Did something happen? Come in.” She ushered him into the brightly lit room, various prints decorating the white walls.  
“I… got into a fight with my friends at school.” He whispered, eyes on his hands, fidgeting in front of him.  
“You want to talk about it?” Mei asked in a gentle voice.  
Keiji shook his head, paused, then slowly nodding.  
“Alright. C’mere then, tell me what happened.” She smiled, gesturing to the seat in front of her desk as she sank into her own chair.  
Keiji did as told and started his story. He talked and talked, getting more and more emotional as he went on, eventually ending with tears rolling freely down his face, into his lap.  
Mei got up and went to him, kneeling in front of her son and stroking his hair.  
“It’s okay, I understand.” She hummed, wiping his tears away with her free hand.  
He nodded, hiccoughing softly.  
They stayed there for a long while, Mei quietly comforting her son until his tears stopped and he was ready to talk again.  
“I just… I don’t know what I’m going to do at school tomorrow. They all hate me.” He whispered weakly, wiping furiously at his eyes.  
Mei laughed gently, pinching his cheek before standing up. “Not possible, Keij, not a single living soul could hate you!” She proclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest. “You know what? Let’s go get crepes.”  
Keiji looked up at her, startled. “Huh? Why?”  
“Why not! Come on Keij, don’t go telling me you’re too old to hang out with your mom now!”  
“O-okay!”  
Mei grinned, heading out of the room as Keiji stumbled up onto his feet and ran after her, drying any remnant tear tracks with his sleeves as he went.

They drove into town and wandered around the shopping centre for hours despite the freezing weather, talking and joking about things they saw, getting crepes and hot cocoa from Mei’s favourite dessert café as promised.  
When the sun started to set, they found a bench to sit on, bundled up in their heavy coats and close together for extra warmth, just watching the world go by.  
Mei made a game of picking out random strangers and giving them backstories, names and putting words to their unheard conversations.  
Keiji laughed at his mother’s antics, quickly catching on and making his own. He pointed at a harassed looking man in a ruffled suit and long trench coat with his cellphone held up to his ear with gloved hands by a coffee shop.  
“That’s Ono Hideo, thirty-two, he looks like a stressed businessman but really he’s a theatre actor, though he mainly plays highly exaggerated characters so you wouldn’t be able to recognise him on the street. He’s on the phone to his boyfriend, Matoi Shoma, twenty-seven, who’s a professional dog trainer and he’s currently running late to their date because an overexcited cockapoo ragged his good shirt and now he doesn’t know what to wear.”  
Mei was hooting, doubled over in loud, uncontrollable fits of laughter by the time he finished, causing passers-by to stare at them.  
“Poor Hideo-chan! He’s trying his best, that damn cockapoo foiling all his plans!” They cackled, wiping at their eyes.  
Keiji grinned at them.  
He still didn’t know who he was going to talk to at school the next day but right now that didn’t matter, his mom always knew how to make him feel better.

The drive home was quiet, but comfortably so, it was long since dark and both of them were warm and fuzzy and a little sleepy.  
They got home quickly since there was no traffic and when they got in the front door, Hotaru was there in an instant, fussing over Keiji, hugging him tight and telling him not to worry about the kids at school, they didn’t know what they were missing out on.  
Keiji grinned at her and insisted that he was alright now, he’d figure something out. He kissed her on the cheek and headed upstairs to his bedroom with calls of goodnight to both of his mothers as he went.  
He changed into some warm, comfortable clothes before flopping down onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling, listening to his moms’ voices floating up through the floorboards. He knew they were worried, they always seemed to be when it came to him.  
He rolled over to look out of his window, up at the endless sky and all of its tiny twinkling lights waving down at him.  
“Pretty…” He murmured to himself.  
A sudden thud on the glass made him jump. He hurried off of the bed to rush to the window and throw it open to stare down at the person he knew would be there.  
Koutarou grinned up at him from the snow covered grass below. “Hey hey hey, Keiji.”  
“Hello, Koutarou.” Keiji smiled down at fondly, leaning over the windowsill.  
“I came over earlier and your mom said you were out. What happened?”  
Of course Koutarou would know that Keiji being out with his mother after school meant something had happened.  
“Nothing important, hang on I’ll come down.” Keiji dismissed before holding up a finger to get Koutarou to wait, shutting the window and running out of his room and down the stairs to the back door. He haphazardly pulled his shoes on and ran across the back porch, down to the grassy part of the yard, currently white with a thin layer of snow.  
Koutarou grinned down at him when he reached his side, hands in the pockets of his sweatpants and hair loose over his eyes.  
“Now tell me what’s wrong.” He said cheekily, raising his eyebrows at his friend.  
With a resigned sigh, Keiji padded back over to the porch and sat down on the edge of it, curling his legs up against his chest and resting his chin on his knees, hands bundled up in the sleeves of his oversized sweater.  
Koutarou followed, settling beside Keiji easily, leaning his head back to stare at the sky as the dark haired boy began his explanation. He frowned as the story progressed, cursing out every person mentioned and, when Keiji finally finished, began ranting heatedly about how bad he wanted to punch all of them in the jaw and fight everyone and anyone who had ever wronged Keiji, even slightly.  
Keiji rolled his eyes, laughing softly beside his best friend, leaning his head against the taller boy’s shoulder.  
“You’re ridiculous.” He sighed.  
Koutarou had gone completely silent and still, staring down at Keiji with wide eyes for a moment before relaxing, wrapping an arm around his back and resting his cheek on Keiji’s head.  
“Yeah, I am. But not for this, those guys ain’t worth jack.” He murmured against black hair, eyes on the snowy grass at his feet.  
“I know. I’ll live, only three more months and I’ll be joining you again.” Keiji smiled, feeling warmth spreading throughout his entire body.  
“That’s way too long!” Koutarou whined, slumping against Keiji dramatically.  
“Mmn.” Keiji hummed in response, closing his eyes.

After a long while, Koutarou bid Keiji farewell with that signature grin, bounding over the fence and back into his own yard.  
“See ya tomorrow Keiji!” He called from the other side.  
“Tomorrow.” Keiji agreed, palm against the wood of the fence, smiling to himself.  
When he reentered the house, both of his moms gave him strange looks, Mei more smug and Hotaru more emotional.  
“What is it?” He asked them, suddenly feeling completely transparent under their eyes.  
“Oh, nothing.” Mei grinned devilishly at their son, looking far too smug.  
“How’s Kou-chan?” Hotaru asked innocently, eyes flashing, giving her away.  
“He’s fine… um, well, goodnight.” Keiji replied, feeling his face heat up and butterflies beginning to swarm in his stomach.  
“Night~ love ya~” Mei called after him as he fled to the stairs.  
“Sleep well baby, love you!” Hotaru chimed in.  
Keiji yelled a quick “love you too” over his shoulder as he sprinted up the stairs to his room, shutting the door behind him before taking his face into his hands, skin burning and an odd churning sensation rocking his stomach.  
He was confused and, for some reason, thoroughly embarrassed, but why? He hadn’t done anything different, he always spent hours talking to Koutarou, they always talked to one another like that, they always shared easy affections between themselves, that was all completely normal for them.  
Then why did this time feel different?

Keiji’s first day at junior high went about as well as he’d expected.  
He got through home room and introductory classes with ease, even picked up conversations with some more chatty classmates and he was pretty confident with the layout of the building by the end of the day.  
However, it was at break that fumbling occurred.  
Koutarou came sprinting into his classroom after the bell rang, throwing himself across Keiji’s desk and exclaiming greetings and proclaimed how much he missed him and asking him how he was getting along so far:  
Keiji felt his skin begin to smoulder, as it seemed to be doing more and more often as of late, and told his excited best friend to calm down.  
“I’m getting used to everything rather quickly, it’s nothing too overwhelming so far.” He told the older boy who’s glowing golden eyes seemed permanently fixed on his face.  
“That’s good! I knew you’d be okay but sometimes I worry cause you get so lost in your own head you walk the wrong way without realising!” Koutarou beamed.  
Keiji was concerned, Koutarou was always grinning and exclaiming his near-permanent excitement to the world, but right now was something else.  
The boy was quite literally glowing, the sunlight through the windows hitting his hair in such a way that it was as if the strands were covered in fine glitter. His fiery eyes held their own miniature suns, like the irises themselves were stolen stars fixed into his sockets, slightly eclipsed by the black, silhouetted planets of his pupils. Even his skin seemed brighter, flushed happily with colour.  
If Keiji were to compare the look on his face to anything, he’d probably say he looked like he’d just won the lottery or been named “Best Volleyball Player of the Century” in a global awards show.  
“I have a map, Koutarou, and I can read signs. Also, all I have been thinking about is getting to classes on time so the likelihood of me getting misdirected is second to none.” Keiji said, adverting his gaze from his companion’s face to his desk in effort to hide how flustered he was.  
“Hey! I was just sayin’, it happens! Have you had Japanese literature yet? I know you’ve been looking forward to that the most!” Koutarou boomed a laugh, completely overjoyed.  
“Not yet. I have it last period.” Keiji informed the other, glancing up at him through his eyelashes in attempt to not be seen watching him.  
It didn’t work. In fact, Koutarou suddenly went very quiet, turning his head away but not before Keiji caught sight of the vibrant pink now flooding his face and ears.  
Before he could ponder on it, however, another four second years entered the classroom and surrounded the pair.  
“Should’ve known. This guy couldn’t get out of class fast enough.” Konoha smirked, shoving Koutarou’s shoulder playfully.  
“Hey Akaashi, how’re you holding up so far?” Komi asked, a lazy smile on his face, hands stuffed in pockets.  
“Akaashi‘s practically an honour student, you know he’s holding up just fine.” Sarukui mused, sitting down on the desk beside Keiji’s.  
“Must be nice.” Komi responded, leaning back to stare at the ceiling.  
Washio waved at Keiji from his spot beside Konoha and Koutarou, exchanging silent greetings in the way of understanding nods.  
“Hello, Konoha-san, Komi-san, Sarukui-san, Washio-san.” Keiji greeted them all in turn.  
Keiji liked the four boys, they were Koutarou’s teammates on the volleyball team and Konoha, Komi and Sarukui had attended their middle school, becoming friends with Koutarou through shared classes and interest in the sport.  
The rest of the lunch period consisted of loud conversation amongst the group, catching up and, in Keiji’s case, learning which teachers weren’t to be trifled with and the quickest ways to difficult classrooms.  
Koutarou was oddly quiet the whole way throughout, something everyone present was acutely aware of. It wasn’t as though he was upset, in fact it seemed more like he was off in his own little world, humming quietly to himself, gazing out of the classroom window with his chin propped up on his palm.  
Konoha exchanged a look with Komi before they both shrugged and went back to telling Keiji why he absolutely must not, under any circumstances, use the farthest stall from the door in the boy’s bathroom in the south wing of the second floor.  
Keiji listened intently whilst also keeping an eye on Koutarou, glancing at him every so often to ensure he really was okay. At least three times when Keiji did this he was met with brilliant golden irises already turned on him, darting away the instant their gazes met and both parties left slightly pink.  
Eventually, when break ended, the second years left in a whirl of yelled ‘see you later’s and pats on the back from Konoha and Sarukui, Komi grinning at Keiji like the Cheshire Cat and Washio yet again just giving him a small nod.  
Koutarou lingered behind as the others left, rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands in his pockets.  
“What’s the matter Koutarou?” Keiji asked, slightly concerned by his usually rambunctious best friend’s quiet demeanour.  
“Huh? Oh, nothing.” He grinned, but it was softer than normal, sweeter somehow. “Enjoy the rest of your classes, yeah? I’ll see you after school.”  
And with that, Koutarou left the classroom, sauntering away with his hands still in his pockets and his head tipped back.  
Keiji watched him go, now actually alarmed.  
Koutarou being quiet wasn’t too rare on its own but it was usually because he was upset or thinking, this time seemed like a whole new thing entirely. That soft look in his eyes, the way he seemed to glow brighter than usual, the way his voice had sounded just then…  
Keiji swallowed, hard, and went about setting up for his lesson with shaky hands, heart pounding in his chest and absolutely no idea as to why any of it was happening.  
Twelve was a difficult age.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well?? Whatcha think??? I hope it reads well so far lol I have no idea how to structure chapters hhhh  
> But yh tysm for reading!! Like I said before I already have a good amount written for this so updates shouldn’t be too long depending on my productivity ehehehe  
> also if there were a buncha typos n that im very sry i hate proof reading and editing ehehe,, sry :3  
> okie stay safe have fun love u all tysm for reading ok byyyyyyye <3


	3. Uranus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deadbeat dads and major pining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiii :)  
> just a quick heads up before hand, theres mentions of parental issues at the beginning of this chap (nothing bad i promise) but just in case that’s a sensitive topic for you i just wanted to warn you upfront  
> have fun and enjoy <3

13 Years old.

Koutarou had been a little off lately.  
For the past week he’d been quieter, more subdued and Keiji was worried. He barely ate at lunch, poking and prodding at the food disinterestedly and whenever he was asked what was wrong he’d shrug it off, saying it was nothing.  
Keiji knew better.  
That Saturday was Koutarou’s weekend, Keiji would be going over to spend the night there and hopefully figure out whatever it was that was bothering his usually carefree best friend.  
However, on the Friday evening preceding it, on the walk home, Koutarou turned to Keiji with pleading golden eyes lined with dark circles.  
“Can we skip my week and just stay at yours again instead?” He asked, his voice slightly desperate.  
“We can… but why? Is something happening at yours?” Keiji returned, frowning slightly.  
Koutarou seemed to deflate, adverting his gaze and kicking at the pavement as they walked.  
“It’s my dad.”  
Keiji started, turning his head to fully stare at his best friend.  
Koutarou’s father was a quiet man, shorter than his wife with dull grey eyes and black hair. Keiji hadn’t interacted with the man much, barely seeing him when he was at the Bokuto household and only exchanging polite greetings with him when they did meet.  
Keiji didn’t know a lot about him, either. Not from Koutarou or his sisters, not from Rukia or his own mothers. The man was a mystery.  
“Mom… mom found out that he has a whole other family besides us, one that he loves more. He doesn’t know that she knows yet though… he’s away on a… a ‘business trip’. He’s coming home tonight.” Koutarou murmured to the ground, his eyebrows pinched and nose scrunched up in distaste.  
“Oh…” Was all Keiji could say.  
What else could he say? He decided to silently listen to his best friend instead, knowing how much just talking about things aloud could help.  
“I should’ve guessed that something was up… like you know him, right? We barely see him and he hardly talks to us or anything! It’s like, it’s like me and my sisters don’t even matter to him! His other wife is really young, they have a baby together. That’s what that month long ‘business trip’ was, he was with her when she was about to give birth and then helped her afterwards.” Koutarou scoffed, shaking his head in furious disbelief. “I wonder if she knows about us… she can’t, right? Otherwise, why would she do it?”  
Keiji bit his lower lip, clenching his fists at his side, desperately trying not to reach out for his best friend, to hug him and tell him that everything would be alright in the end.  
“Mom’s so upset, Keiji, god. What can I even do for her? There isn’t anything, is there? She’s crying all the time now, that or getting mad. I feel so useless, I can’t help her, or my sisters. Jun’s handling it the best but I think she’s just faking it for us, she was the closest to dad, after all. They’re always telling me how nice dad used to be before, Satsu barely remembers but Jun does and she loves dad and now this is happening! It’s not fair, Keiji! Why did he do it? Why doesn’t he love us anymore?” Koutarou was crying now, pawing at his eyes in an effort to stop the tears but failing.  
Keiji could no longer just watch, he had to act.  
He marched ahead of Koutarou and stood in his path, stopping him from progressing onward.  
He looked up at Keiji with eyes like pools of melted 24 karat gold, his startling white eyelashes sparkling with teardrops in the light of the setting sun.  
“Keiji?” He asked croakily, voice quiet and weak and trembling.  
Keiji shook his head, fighting back the urge to cry himself.  
“I don’t know anything about this subject and I have no idea what to say to you, what I could possibly tell you to make you feel alright again. I can’t, nobody can. This is something you have to work through with yourself and your family, however, if you ever need to just talk and clear it all off of your chest, know that I will always be here to lend you my strength. I can’t give you answers or advice since I’m completely unable to empathise with your situation but I will still help you in whatever ways I can.” Keiji told him firmly, maintaining eye contact the whole way through despite the prickling sensation at the back of his eyes.  
Koutarou nodded weakly, sniffling. “Okay. Thanks Keiji, I really need you right now.”  
Keiji bit down in the inside of his lower lip, forcing away the heat trying to engulf his skin and the rapid thrumming of his heart.  
“I’m here.” Keiji reassured, finally letting his instincts take over, closing the space between them to hug his best friend.  
He hugged him as tightly as he could, resting his chin on the taller boy’s shoulder, gripping at the material of his school shirt over his broadening shoulders. Koutarou sank into the contact, completely letting go of everything he’d been keeping in, sobbing wholeheartedly into the side of Keiji’s neck, wrapping him up in a vice tight embrace, hands fisted into the material of Keiji’s blazer.  
They stayed there for a long while, the sun slowly sinking into the sea, leaving them in shallow blue darkness on the path on the side of the hill they lived atop of.  
Keiji thought that it might’ve been cold if it weren’t for the burning body heat of the older boy draped all around him, slowly crying himself into a drought.  
When he was finally reduced to nothing but tiny hiccoughs and sniffles, the boys continued on their commute, back up to the street they shared in peaceful quiet, only ambient sounds and Koutarou’s soft, sad noises permeating the air around them.  
When they reached the front of their houses, Koutarou went back in for another hug, once again melting into the younger boy like he’d lost all of his bones and muscle.  
Keiji hugged him back, of course, trailing fingers through his silver-white and black hair, finding peace in the comforting warmth of his best friend’s arms.  
They separated after a few minutes, Koutarou looking down into Keiji’s eyes with a strange look on his face, one that Keiji had seen before, a million times, yet still couldn’t figure out what it was or what it meant.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Koutarou said softly, smiling a little. “Night Keiji.”  
Keiji nodded, smiling back. “Sleep well.”

That night, Keiji couldn’t concentrate on anything for any longer than a couple of minutes, drumming his fingers on his desk and occasionally running a hand through his hair.  
He was worried.  
He looked at his phone for the hundredth time since he’d gotten inside, gnawing on his lower lip with furrowed brows. If something had happened Koutarou would tell him.  
Right?  
He hadn’t said what time his father would be getting home nor had he elaborated on what he planned to do whilst his parents… discussed… their issues.  
He’d be okay, Keiji told himself, he had his sisters and he wasn’t exactly a child himself so if anything got out of hand they’d be fine. Plus, Rukia was rather intimidating on her own when she got stern, let alone angry, and from what Koutarou had hinted, she was irate.  
Keiji held his face in his hands, tapping his foot rapidly and squeezing his eyes shut, trying desperately to calm down.  
He felt ill with concern, his stomach somersaulting repeatedly.  
His phone began ringing loudly, vibrating against the wooden surface of his desk, shaking him out of his stupor instantly.  
Keiji scrambled for it at once, answering without hesitation and gasping out his greeting.  
“Hello?”  
“Hey,” Koutarou didn’t sound even half as frazzled as Keiji, in fact he sounded oddly chipper. “You okay, Keiji?”  
Keiji wanted to scream. “I’m fine. How about you, Koutarou? Is everything okay?” He replied calmly instead.  
“Yeah! Oh, Keiji, you gotta hear this! It’s hilarious!” Koutarou chuckled through the receiver, sounding positively overjoyed. “Can you come outside?”  
Keiji sighed, emotionally exhausted and physically drained. “Sure. One moment.”

He got outside rather quickly, peering around for his best friend in the dark, mid November night.  
“Koutarou?” He called softly, rubbing his arms in effort to stay warm in the seasonal chill.  
“Here, here!” Koutarou called back excitedly from around Mei’s car, grinning wildly.  
Keiji headed over to him, frowning. “What could have possibly happened in that situation to invoke this response from you?” He asked under his breath, more to himself than to his bright-eyed best friend.  
“Huh? What was that?” Koutarou questioned, jogging to meet Keiji halfway, putting his hands on his hips almost proudly when he stopped in front of the younger boy.  
“Nothing. What happened?” Keiji countered.  
“Oh yeah! Well, basically, he came back and mom went off on him! It was so cool, Keiji, you shoulda seen her, she was awesome!” Koutarou laughed ecstatically. “And he ran away! Said he was planning on leaving anyway and packed up his stuff and ran! It was hilarious!”  
Keiji stared at the taller boy, dumbfounded.  
Then, without warning, he burst out laughing, the sound of it ringing through the deserted neighbourhood.  
Koutarou grinned, puffing his chest out proudly. “My mom’s a badass!” He proclaimed before joining Keiji in his laughter, the two boys completely lost to their jubilation.  
When they finally calmed down, Keiji shook his head, breathless and glowing in the faint moonlight.  
“I’m glad everything’s sorted out, I was really worried.” He sighed, shaking his head.  
“Uh huh! Also, this means you can come over tomorrow, no problem! We can have a movie night with mom, Jun and Satsu!” Koutarou chirped happily.  
“That sounds good to me.” Keiji smiled, because it really did. “I look forward to it.”  
Koutarou grinned, tipping his head back to let out a relieved sigh, eyes closed.  
“I’m kinda glad, is that bad? I never really got along with my dad anyway, you know? So I’m just happy he’s gone so mom and my sisters can start to feel better.”  
Keiji watched him for a moment before turning to stare up at the sky himself, admiring the scattered stars in the mostly clear expanse.  
“It’s not bad. By the sounds of it, it’s good that he’s gone. I’m sure it’ll be strange for a while but this is far better than the alternative. Like you said, this gives your family time to heal and move forward stronger than they could have prior.” He said quietly to the sky, smiling.  
Koutarou grinned, opening his eyes to stare up at the endless navy stretched overhead.  
“Yeah. You’re right.”

*~*~*~*

“Hey! I just thought of something!” Koutarou yelled suddenly.  
Keiji cracked open an eye with much difficulty, suppressing the urge to groan aloud. He’d been so close to falling asleep that being stirred so abruptly now was almost physically painful.  
“Mrmn…” was all Keiji could formulate as a response.  
“Oh! Were you asleep? Sorry…” Koutarou exclaimed before quickly changing to a hushed whisper, smiling down at Keiji apologetically.  
Keiji huffed, shifting in his position nestled against his best friend on the couch, angling his head so that he could peer up into Koutarou’s eyes, his own barely open, eyelids heavier than lead.  
“Whaw es eet?” Keiji murmured, almost completely incoherent.  
Koutarou was staring at him with wide eyes and slightly parted lips, a look of surprised amazement colouring his features as he gazed down at his still mostly asleep best friend.  
Keiji glared sleepily, not intimidating in the slightest, lifting himself up a little more to even out the perspective angles.  
“Eef you forgot whatchu gon say, I’m goin back sleep.” He grumbled, still slurring his words beyond belief.  
Koutarou grinned.  
It was like he’d just shone a flashlight in Keiji’s face and he hissed, shrinking back into his starting position, curled up against Koutarou’s chest with his forehead buried into the divot between the older boy’s pectoral muscles, hiding his face.  
“I didn’t, I didn’t!” Koutarou laughed softly, stroking a hand over Keiji’s hair.  
Keiji hummed, feeling his tiredness taking ahold of him once again, slowly sinking back into sleep’s warm depths.  
“I was just thinking… since neither of us really have dads, or halfway decent ones in my case, or brothers or anything, that means that we’re each other’s main guys, right? Like, everybody has a favourite girl and guy right? And usually it’s your parents or siblings or something… but since we don’t have that, we’re each other’s favourite guy, you know?” Koutarou asked softly, still stroking Keiji’s hair. “At least, that’s how it is for me.” He added quietly, nervously.  
Keiji huffed a small laugh against his best friend’s chest, rolling his eyes beneath his closed eyelids.  
“You have the strangest thoughts sometimes, Koutarou.” He mumbled sleepily. “That’s quite a random idle thought to have, but… yes, I feel the same way.”  
Even with his eyes shut and face tucked safely away, Keiji knew that Koutarou was beaming.  
“Good! Cool, I know it was a really weird thing to think but I don’t know, it just sort of came to me just now.” The older boy laughed happily, Keiji could feel the vibrations from the sound against his face. “I’m really happy that you agree, you really are my most important guy.”  
Keiji felt his face burning and was slightly afraid of burning a hole through Koutarou’s shirt, the smile on his face feeling as though it’d be there permanently.  
“And you’re mine. Now, let’s go to sleep.” Keiji replied quietly, hearing the sickly sweet fondness in his own voice and taking a second to clear his throat. “Goodnight, Kou.”  
Koutarou shifted a little, moving down a little on the couch so that Keiji’s head was now against his collar bone and he nuzzled his own face into the younger boy’s dark curls, sighing contentedly.  
“Mhm… sweet dreams ‘Ji.”

*~*~*~*  
14 Years old.

Keiji was nervous beyond belief.  
He was stood backstage by the thick black curtains that obscured the main stage from view. His throat felt far too tight and his stomach kept jumping uncomfortably, his hands fidgeting from the mounting anxiety. He reminded himself to breathe, counting the seconds between each inhale and exhale in his head, trying desperately to distract himself from the low murmur of hundreds of voices beyond the curtain.  
His leotard felt too tight, making him feel vulnerable and exposed. Not only that, but there was the slightest chill in the air which sent goosebumps up his exposed arms, only serving to increase his nervous trembling.  
He’d performed on stage before today, dozens of times throughout his childhood and even more so since being in junior high, but this was different.  
The hall was so much bigger, the audience full of much more impressive people and don’t even get him started on the cameras.  
He’d been preparing for this for a long, long time. All that training and practice, the endless conversations with his mother; This was muscle memory to him now. His body knew this, knew the movements and the feelings. Knew the way different rhythms changed them, reacted automatically to such occurrences even when it didn’t need to.  
He remembered the Saturday before, him and Koutarou in the empty kitchen at two am, music playing from the speaker the older boy had brought with him from home. He remembered the look in his golden eyes, the way his strong, steady hands felt, one in his own, the other on his waist, as he tried to teach him how to dance. Remembered the sound of his nervous laughter whenever he stumbled and the continuous string of apologies he’d babble out when he stepped on Keiji’s toes.  
He remembered the words he’d felt bubbling up his throat, the uncontrollable fear that had prevented him from setting them free, the regret he’d felt that night after they’d gone to bed.  
Koutarou would hate him if he knew.  
Keiji sucked in a breath much harder than necessary, making his eyes water and lungs burn.  
Now wasn’t the time for these sorts of feelings.  
Or maybe it was. His mother often told him that feelings greatly affect their movements, how feeling sorrow or joy always showed through dance and only ever served to improve it.  
The greatest pieces of all time were about heartbreak and longing, after all.  
The curtain lifted.

His heart felt like it weighed several tonnes, sitting at the pit of his stomach.  
The audience was silent for a long beat before the entire building seemed to erupt with thundering applause and raucous cheers, whoops and whistles of appreciation.  
Keiji let his breath leave his body, bowing lowly to the explosive crowd, tears in his eyes.  
He walked backstage and was immediately swept into a rib crushing hug from both of his mothers combined, both of them wailing and sobbing praises into him. He smiled warmly, hugging them back tightly, burying his face in their hair.  
Hotaru pulled back to gaze straight into his face with soaking eyes that burned with fierce pride, taking his jaw between her palms.  
“You were beautiful, Keiji. I’ve never been more proud.” She told him, eyes flashing beneath the thick sheen of tears.  
“M-me too!” Mei warbled from her place against her son’s shoulder, leaning most of her weight into him and balling freely.  
Keiji laughed shakily, the dregs of adrenaline still lingering, making him shaky and a little nauseous. “I wouldn’t be anything without you. Thank you for raising me.” He said, bowing his head as tears of his own prickled his eyes.  
That did it.  
Both of them began wailing loudly all over again, Hotaru bringing him into her arms once more as her entire body wracked with emotion.  
Keiji patted her back, smiling. He was truly grateful for everything his mothers did for him.

In the car on the way home, Keiji got lost in thought, cheek pressed to cold glass and watching the scenery pass as his mother drove them onwards.  
He’d been having a difficult time as of late, with high school entrance exams and endless ballet practice but more than anything, his growing feelings for his best friend of seven years.  
He’d been feeling this way for a long time now, but had only really come to terms with what the feeling actually was when Koutarou graduated to high school the previous spring.  
Koutarou had smiled down at him with such fierce light in his eyes, pumping his fist into the air as he announced that he was going to become the greatest.  
How was Keiji to tell his eccentric best friend that he already was, to him? How was he to put how his chest felt when Koutarou hugged him, grinned at him, touched him in that easy way he always had, into words? How was he ever going to tell his best friend in the whole world that he was hopelessly in love with him?  
Especially now, with Koutarou in high school, away from him, he had far too much time to ponder on his existential dread without the distracting pull of the older boy’s presence.  
Koutarou always knew when Keiji was thinking too hard on something, working himself into a nervous breakdown, and he was an expert in the art of snapping him out of his punishing thoughts. He’d roll his eyes and tell Keiji that whatever it was that was bothering him so much wasn’t worth the stress, he’d work it out of the younger boy no matter what and, somehow, just getting it out and telling someone was enough to break the spell. Well, not someone, Koutarou specifically.  
However, now that the issue was involving the very person he always talked his problems out with, there was nothing Keiji could do but smoulder over it alone.  
Koutarou, of course, had noticed that Keiji was clearly keeping something from him. Every time he asked, which was at least once a day, Keiji would always give him the same response.  
“Don’t you have more important things to be worrying about? Like homework and your upcoming match? Please don’t waste any more of your time worrying over me, I promise you that it’s nothing I can’t handle.” And then he’d give that same small, heartbreaking smile and swiftly change the subject.  
Koutarou had tried everything, from puppy-dog eyes to extensive whining to even getting mad a couple of times, though he hated himself for it afterwards.  
Keiji was resolute. He’d handle this alone and no matter how much it hurt him to say no to Koutarou so many times, he’d just have to keep doing so until the other boy dropped the subject.

His eyes felt damp when they rolled into the driveway, his chest tight. He tried not to glance up at the window of Koutarou’s bedroom as he trekked up the path to the front door after his mothers. He smiled at them warmly as he bid them goodnight, heading up the stairs and into his room on numb legs.  
In his room, he glared at his bed with his back to the freshly closed door for a long while, his legs refused to move him onward and he held no desire to force them to. His body felt all wrong, like it wasn’t his own, like it was much too big and far too small all at once.  
Tears were flooding down his cheeks before he could even think to stop them. He held a hand to his mouth to silence his shaky sobs and slid down onto the carpet in defeat, curling in on himself.  
He wanted to scream and yell and punch something, wanted so badly to let his built up pressure out into the world and go back to the way he felt before.  
What had he felt like before? Was there ever a time when he wasn’t hopelessly infatuated with Bokuto Koutarou? What was that time like? He imagined it’d been very quiet, dark and empty and cold without the sun there to share its gravitational pull, to keep him alive with its bountiful radioactive energy.  
In the pocket of his oversized cardigan, his phone buzzed.  
Keiji half didn’t want to look at it, he already knew who it was and had a pretty good idea of what the content would be.  
Nonetheless, Akaashi Keiji was helpless in the face of the white and black haired boy next door, so he pulled the device out and blinked down at the too-bright screen, still on the floor of his darkened room, with teary eyes.

Kou – 01:32am:  
>hey hey hey keiji!! u jst got home rght?? how was it??? i bet u were amzn!!! how r u feeln??

Keiji smiled despite himself, wiping at his eyes with his too-long sleeves before typing out his response.

Sent – 01:34  
>Hello Koutarou, yes we did and thank you very much. I feel okay, just a bit tired. Tokyo was very interesting, I see why you want to go back, it’s loud and full of strange people, just like you.

Not even a minute passed before he received his reply.

Kou – 01:34  
>KEIJIIIII T^T  
>ur spsd 2 b on my side!!

Sent – 01:35  
>I am.

Kou – 01:35  
>thn act like it!!!  
>cn u call??

Keiji hit the call button the moment the message arrived, completely forgetting the state he was in and only realising when the always loud, much too happy sounding voice began blaring out of the receiver.  
“Hey hey hey Keiji! That was super quick, don’t tell me you were actually waiting for me to ask? Aww, Keiji you’re so cute, you can call me whenever you want to, you know!” Koutarou exclaimed, Keiji could practically see his grin.  
“Even at a time like this?” Keiji asked, wincing at the sniffly quality of his own voice despite his own smile.  
Koutarou seemed to notice this too. Of course he did.  
“What’s wrong?” His voice was suddenly made of cashmere, worry serving as the thread that stitched the edges together.  
“It’s no-“  
“Don’t even try it! It’s not nothing Keiji, I can hear it! You’ve been crying! Please just… just tell me what’s wrong. Please.” The sad, pleading tone of his voice made Keiji’s heart splinter, his voice was never meant to get that lilt to it.  
He was only ever meant to be happy, excited, loud and even a little obnoxious at times. Sadness and anger, worry and fear, these things weren’t made for Bokuto Koutarou to experience.  
Yet, here Keiji was, forcing them on him.  
“I’m sorry.” He whispered, voice shaking, new tears pooling in his dark teal eyes. “All I ever do is make you worry. I’m the worst best friend, I don’t deserve to even call myself that. You deserve so much better, Kou, I’m sorry.”  
He closed his eyes to the tears streaking down his cheeks, tried to stop the hiccuping sounds reverberating up his throat. He didn’t want to do this right now but he couldn’t just hang up on Koutarou, turn his phone off and pretend he was asleep when the other boy inevitably came to his house to speak to him face to face.  
“Hey, it’s okay. Please don’t say that stuff, Keiji, I would never, not ever, want another person to be my best friend, not in a million years. We’re together forever, you and me, you know that don’t you? You’re stuck with me until you’re as grey as I am! We’ll have matching hair and you’ll be telling me to calm down before I bust my hip, just like always!” Koutarou laughed, soft and affectionate.  
It made Keiji’s stomach somersault. “You keep trying to do everything all on your own but you aren’t alone in this! You have me, I’m here and I could never hate you! So please, just let me in, tell me what’s wrong.”  
Keiji opened his eyes and looked up at his window. The curtains weren’t shut, allowing the moonlight to flood into his room, casting everything in a soft blue.  
He stared at the waning gibbous moon for a long moment, he could hear Koutarou breathing on the other end of the phone and knew he could hear him, too.  
“I’m not ready yet. But I will be, one day. So, can you be patient with me until then? I know I’m asking a lot of you and I don’t deserve your patience but…” Keiji said, his voice little more than a whisper, eyes still on the almost-full moon.  
“I’ll wait. Forever, if I have to. As long as you promise that you’ll tell me everything when we get there.”  
“I promise. I swear it to you, Koutarou.”  
“Okay. Then, when it happens, I’ll have something to tell you, as well.”  
“Okay.” Keiji smiled again, the kind that made his eyes crinkle at the edges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chaps gonna be p long whoop whoop its a goodie ;)  
> ly all thx for reading!! <3


	4. Saturn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volleyball, fluff, thunderstorm, fluff, more volleyball, fluff, beach trip, tiny angst and oh my god fluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay okay okay  
> a lot happens in this chap ayup n it’s reeeeeaaal long,, long enough that I had to section parts off into the months they’re happening in for clarity so enjoy that lmao ;)  
> there’s a part of this chap thats based on a true, lived in experience that I had with my best friend I wonder if u can guess what part it is lolol  
> also,, i get A LOT of inspiration from my twt since everyone I follow is so amazing and come up with the best hcs/prompts/scenarios ughhhh so yea u may spot some references to cool ppl twts in here if u follow them too :)  
> whoop whoop,, hope u enjoyyyy <3

15 Years old.  
October

Koutarou was nervous, he was pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair and worrying his lower lip so ferociously Keiji was a little concerned he’d break the skin.  
With a quiet huff of resignation, Keiji stood up and got in Koutarou’s path, fixing him with a stern look, raising an eyebrow at the older boy.  
“You’ll do just fine. We’ve been preparing for this, remember?”  
“Yeah but you know how bad I am at calculus Keiji! You make it look so easy! Plus, I can only understand it when it’s you explaining it to me, reading it off paper is something completely different!” Koutarou whined, wilting further, sticking his lower lip out at Keiji with big, golden eyes.  
Keiji smiled. Koutarou was the biggest accidental flirt he’d ever known of. He’d say things that’d make Keiji’s heart start to pound a mile a minute and skin flush like sunburn without even a second thought.  
Once upon a time, Keiji had hoped he was doing it on purpose, but he’d since learned better, that that was just the way Koutarou spoke to him and Keiji wasn’t about to tell him it was inappropriate.  
“Then just read the questions in my voice in your head. I’m sure you can, your imagination is something quite special, after all.” Keiji replied, crossing his arms and watching with keen interest as his best friend’s cheeks slowly turned the prettiest shade of pink.  
“Th-that’s! I can’t… And hey! Is that supposed to be a compliment or insult?” Koutarou sputtered, jumping back and pointing at Keiji dramatically like he was accusing him of a crime.  
Keiji’s smile evolved into a very slight teasing smirk, tilting his head to the side with feigned innocent curiosity. “Oh? And why’s that?” He asked, avoiding the latter half of Koutarou’s statement expertly.  
“Keijiiii!” Koutarou whined like a petulant child, throwing his head back. “Don’t make me say it!”  
Keiji, knowing full well that if he asked seriously Koutarou would answer truthfully without second thought, decided against doing so out of the strange nervous feeling bubbling in the pit of his stomach at the prospective answers.  
“Hmm. Well, I don’t know what else I could offer you that would be of any help.” Keiji shrugged, going back to his seat on Koutarou’s desk chair.  
They’d just gotten home from school and Koutarou had been informed of an impromptu calculus test taking place first period the next day. For this reason, Keiji had come over to Koutarou’s house to help him cram but it wasn’t going so well as of yet.  
Koutarou was fidgety and restless, completely unable to focus on anything for more that a few minutes at a time and Keiji was starting to go just a little bit insane.  
“I’m sorry Keiji, I’m completely hopeless.” Bokuto groaned, collapsing onto his bed face-first. “‘Oo ‘an ‘oh ‘ome ehnee ‘ime ‘oo ‘onna.” He murmured into the mattress, almost entirely unintelligible.  
Keiji sighed, or tried to at least since it turned into a laugh halfway through.  
His best friend was the most ridiculous person on Earth, of that much he was completely certain.  
Well, that and the fact he loved the absurd boy more than words could express.  
“What? Hey, it’s not funny! I’m seriously suffering over here!” Koutarou said, lifting his head from the fabric to look at Keiji, he was clearly trying to sound mad but the ill disguised grin on his face ruined that prospect completely.  
Keiji only laughed harder, doubling over, at a complete loss for both words and breath.  
“Oh that’s it! You asked for it!” With this proclamation, Koutarou pounced.  
He tackled Keiji from the chair onto the floor and loomed over him on his knees, plunging his hands into the younger boys sides and beginning to wriggle his fingers.  
Keiji wheezed aloud, practically screaming with laughter now, scrambling at Koutarou’s hands, trying to push them away but considerably weakened by the force of his laughter.  
“You think that’s so funny, huh? Well I’ll give ya something to laugh about!” Koutarou growled playfully. “Take that! And that! Aaaaand that!”  
“K-Kou! Stoppit! I c-can’t breathe!” Keiji giggled, batting weakly at the bigger boy’s arms. “Okay! Okay, I give up! You win!”  
Koutarou was grinning like he’d just won eleven gold medals as he released his hold on Keiji, rolling off of him to lay on his back on the ground beside his gasping best friend.  
Keiji wiped laughter induced tears from his eyelashes with the backs of his hands, his throat slightly sore and stomach aching.  
They lay there in silence for a while, staring up at the aged glow-in-the-dark stars tacked to Koutarou’s ceiling from ever since they’d first moved in.  
“Can I tell you something?” Koutarou asked after a while, his voice quiet though not quite a whisper.  
“Anything.” Keiji replied, still the slightest bit breathless, though it was no longer from the laughter.  
“You’re really pretty when you laugh. And smile. And just exist, actually.” Koutarou said matter-of-factly, like it was common knowledge, like he’d said it a hundred times before.  
Keiji turned his head to stare at Koutarou’s side profile next to him.  
“You are as well.” He mused, taking in white eyelashes and sparkling golden irises, clear skin and soft looking wisps of dual toned hair falling onto his forehead, breaking free from the insanely styled spikes Koutarou gelled into oblivion.  
The older boy started, whipping his face around to gape at Keiji with eyes blown wide. “Really?” He whispered, sounding starstruck.  
“Mhm. You’re beautiful, Koutarou.” Keiji replied without hesitation, keeping his eyes fixed on the other’s as he spoke to ensure he understood the truth in his words.  
Koutarou stared at him for a long moment, cheeks that perfect shade of pink Keiji adored and eyes twinkling as though they were filled with thousands of stars.  
Huh, stars within a star. Figures.  
“You really should study, Koutarou.” Keiji finally said, breaking the odd tension filled silence that’d formed around them, sitting up and shooting the older boy a look.  
Koutarou seemed to wake from some sort of trance, jumping as though electrocuted, blinking up at Keiji abashedly.  
“Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

They spent the rest of the evening studying in relative quiet, Keiji quietly explaining equations and formulas to the other boy, easing him through it as best as he was able while also working on his own homework.  
Koutarou’s mother arrived home at seven, laughing at the two boys when she came upstairs to change out of her work clothes, asking Keiji if he was going to stay for dinner.  
He agreed, more so because of the look Koutarou was giving him though he also just enjoyed spending time with the Bokuto’s. They were his second family, had been for more than half his life and always made him feel welcomed in their home.  
He messaged his mother to let her know before heading downstairs to help prepare the food. Rukia tried to dissuade him, telling him to go relax or continue studying but Keiji was adamant, telling her with a smile that it was no problem and he’d already completed the bulk of his homework anyway. Plus, he found cooking relaxing so it was honestly a win-win situation for all of them.  
Koutarou trailed around behind Keiji a little bit like a puppy, or maybe a duckling, handing him utensils and filling pots with water when he was asked to, chattering away to Keiji like he always did. Keiji often thought that with Koutarou around, he really never needed to put on a radio or the tv for background noise, it was never quiet.  
He appreciated this more than he could express, the quiet had a way of getting to him, messing with his mind and distorting his thoughts. There always had to be some source of noise around, whether that be music, the soft murmur of a crowd or his eccentric best friend, talking his ear off about the nesting habits of various species of owls.  
When all that was left to do was wait, they headed into the sitting room where they had a lively conversation with Rukia about a peculiar client she had at work. They laughed and groaned, even gasped once or twice, while the story progressed. It was nice, Keiji thought, being here with the two of them right now made him feel warm and content, the same way he did with his mothers.  
It was a home, just like his own, and he felt like he belonged there.

Keiji looked up at Koutarou as they stood on his front porch, the latter having insisted on walking Keiji home despite living next door, waiting for the words he knew to be coming since Koutarou had been so incredibly adamant on walking Keiji twenty steps to his front door.  
The older boy shifted his weight from foot to foot, not meeting the other’s eyes, looking far too nervous for it to be anything normal.  
“Um… so you know the match I have coming up?” He finally asked, voice slightly higher than normal.  
“Yes?” Keij prompted, watching his companion with growing anticipation, though for what he wasn’t sure.  
“Will you come watch?” Koutarou asked, eyes finally darting up from the wooden decking to meet Keiji’s deep teal irises head on.  
“You… you want me to?” Keiji asked, shocked.  
One of the only things they kept distinctly separate from one another was their hobbies.  
In Keiji’s case, it was mostly shyness. He felt oddly hot and trembly whenever he thought about Koutarou’s golden irises fixed on him as he danced, it was okay through videos because then Keiji wouldn’t have to worry about seeing him in the crowd and becoming a fumbling mess. It wasn’t just that, of course, it was also having a place that was distinctly his own. Somewhere he could be when they fought, though it was exceptionally rare, and not have to think about the other boy. A personal retreat, of sorts, that he’d built on his own and a place where he hadn’t connected personal attachments to others that’d ruin it for him if something were to go wrong.  
In Koutarou’s case… well, he wasn’t sure. They didn’t discuss their reasons, they didn’t need to. It was something they’d mutually agreed on right at the beginning of their friendship, they did enough together for it to not damage their relationship in the slightest, it was just their own personal sanctuaries that they kept to themselves, nothing more, nothing less.  
So this new development was definitely something to be surprised about.  
“Y-yeah… I mean, only if you can… or even want to! I completely get it if you can’t, it’s just that I feel like I’d do better if you were there watching me and cheering me on but of course I totally understand if you don’t want to I mean, why would you? You know what? Don’t worry about it, forget I said anything.” Koutarou rambled, changing into progressively deeper shades of pink the longer he went on, eyes darting to anywhere but Keiji’s face.  
Keiji laughed softly, turning to unlock his door. “I’d like that Koutarou, I’ll be there.”  
“Of course you wouldn’t- Wait, what? You… you really wanna come? You mean it?”  
Keiji turned back to witness for himself the dazzling light Koutarou seemed to be emitting as he beamed, hopeful and stunned, at the dark haired boy.  
“Why wouldn’t I? You’ve told me at least a million times how amazing you are, I’d like to witness it for myself, in person.” Keiji smiled.  
“You… I… what?” Was all Koutarou managed to get out before Keiji was waving goodnight and stepping into his house, closing the door behind him quickly.

Once safely out of view, Keiji slumped back against the closed door and clasped his hands over his mouth, letting out the smallest of squeals as his face heated up rapidly and his whole body vibrated with uncontainable jubilation.  
Koutarou had asked him to come and watch him play volleyball, an actual competitive match, not practice or a leisurely game on the beach, the real thing.  
As per their age old agreement, Keiji had never seen Koutarou play seriously. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to, it was because he respected his best friend’s boundaries the way the other boy did for him.  
Well, that and the idea of seeing Koutarou, all sculpted muscles and overwhelming presence, getting deadly focused and serious for the game he’d loved since childhood made Keiji feel uncomfortably warm and a little weak at the knees.  
“Kei-chan?” Keiji’s mother’s voice asked from within the living room. “That you, honey?”  
Keiji pulled himself together enough to get out a semi-legible response, “Yes, it’s me.” His voice was too high, too happy.  
Hotaru had never run faster in her life, flying around the corner and grabbing her son’s shoulders, staring at him with a smile so bright, so warm and happy and full.  
“What happened?” She asked, beaming like a lighthouse out on the sea.  
She was far too excited, Keiji thought, staring at her with a bemused expression.  
“Oh… um, nothing big…” He replied, adverting his gaze, suddenly embarrassed at his own exultation at such a minor thing.  
“Kei-chaaaaan!” Hotaru whined, looking at him pleadingly. “Don’t do this to me! If it makes you happy, mama wants to know!”  
Keiji grinned at her, caving. “Kou asked me to come to watch his upcoming game.” He told her, voice going quiet at the end and cheeks flushing again.  
Hotaru gasped, staring at her child with eyes like saucers, slowly lifting a hand to her cheek.  
“He did?” She asked softly, wondrously, like Keiji had just told her he’d gotten engaged.  
Keiji nodded at the floor, still blushing furiously.  
“Oh Kei-chan!” Hotaru exclaimed, throwing herself onto her son. “My baby’s first date! Oh I’m so proud! I think I’m going to cry…”  
“Ah! No, don’t cry! And it isn’t a date, I’m just watching him play volleyball, that’s all. It’s nothing to be so happy about.” Keiji placated, taking ahold of his mother’s shoulders and pushing her back just enough to look her in the eyes.  
“Oh yeah? And what was Kou’s reason for asking you to go?” Hotaru asked, raising an eyebrow at her son, crossing her arms.  
“He… he said that he believes he’ll perform better if he knows I’m watching…” Keiji mumbled, dropping his gaze once again, the heat was never going to leave his face at this rate.  
“Mhm? Well, maybe dating’s just a little different from when it was my scene but when I was in high school, being asked to watch someone’s sports game as a good luck charm was a pretty standard date.” Hotaru mused airily, batting a hand in faux disregard.  
“Yes, but this isn’t like that. We’re just… best friends. And you know what Koutarou’s like, he probably doesn’t even understand that what he said could be construed that way. There’s no possible way that he meant for this to be a date.” Keiji concluded, his words expressed more at himself than his mother.  
“Oh Keiji.” Hotaru sighed, shaking her head with fond exasperation and reaching up to caress her son’s cheek. “You’ll see.”  
Keiji would never say this aloud, but he really hoped she was right.

*~*~*~*

On the day of the match, Keiji was having a slight nervous breakdown.  
He had no idea what to wear, which was ridiculous since this wasn’t a date. Yet, for some unidentifiable reason, he couldn’t convince his brain of this, no matter how often he silently chanted it in his head.  
His mothers were having a field day, giggling amongst themselves and shooting him meaningful looks every time he walked past them.  
Keiji was resigned to his fate. If this was what was to happen, so be it.  
“Mom?” He called down the stairs when he reached the end of his mental rope.  
“Yes?” They both called back in perfect chorus.  
“Can you come help me, please?” He replied, and felt himself smile as the sounds of his two mothers came sprinting out of the kitchen, towards the stairs.

Within half an hour, Keiji was fully dressed and ready to go.  
His mothers never let him down in the presentation department, having always dressed him impeccably as a child and following through into his teenage years, giving him advice on which colours suited him best and what patterns to avoid with his frame.  
Keiji liked to think he was pretty well versed in fashion by now because of it, but that didn’t change the fact that the idea of a potential (not) date with Bokuto Koutarou dismantled all of his sense and rendered him completely intellectually useless, in every aspect.  
He eyed himself in the wall length mirror, taking inventory on his assets.  
He wore loose fitting tan corduroy pants, cuffed at the bottoms, a white long sleeved button up shirt and a black sweater over top.  
He nodded his approval at his reflection, grabbed his phone from his dresser and headed downstairs.  
“We ready to go?” Mei grinned at him, her eyes sparkling.  
“Mmn, I think so.” Keiji replied, shifting slightly, fiddling with his hands.  
“Alrighty! See ya in a bit, Taru!” His mother yelled down the hall.  
“Wait wait wait!” Hotaru called back, hurrying out of the kitchen.  
She took Keiji’s face into her hands and beamed at him, rubbing circles into his cheeks. “Have fun and be back before midnight, okay?”  
“Yes, mom.” Keij replied with a small smile.  
She beamed, taking him into her arms fully and squeezing tight.  
Keiji hugged her back, getting the distinct impression that he was going off to be wed or fight in a war rather than watch a game of volleyball.  
“See you later.” He smiled at her when they parted, stepping into the genkan and pulling on his white sneakers.  
“Have fun! I love you!” Hotaru called after them as the two departed down the path to the car. “And for gods sake, be safe!”  
Mei burst into howls of laughter, falling into the side of the car and pounding her fist against the roof.  
Keiji blushed furiously, shooting both of his mothers embarrassed glares before stepping into the passenger side door, slamming it behind him and hiding his face in his hands now that he was safely inside the car.

“Alright, you heard what your mother said, back by midnight. Now, go have fun.” Mei grinned at Keiji, now in the parking lot of the gymnasium the tournament was being held in.  
Keiji nodded, turning to face them with a nervous expression, worrying his lower lip between his teeth.  
Mei laughed, rolling their eyes and affectionately ruffling their sons hair. “Aww lookit’cha! You’re just like me the first time your mom asked me out!”  
Keiji looked down at his hands, tugging at his fingers restlessly in his lap. “Did… did it go away?”  
“Huh? The nerves? Nah, I still get shy around your mom to this day and we’ve been married seventeen years! Hell, we even have a kid! Keij, when you’re in love, like real, true love, the butterflies never go away. Not really. They calm down a bit, don’t get me wrong, but they won’t leave as long as you’re with that person and you still love them.” Mei’s smile turned soft, almost nostalgic. “You’ll be just fine. Now go get him!”  
Keiji grinned at his mother, leaning across the console to hug them before undoing his seatbelt and climbing out of the car.  
He knew this wasn’t a date, knew it wasn’t the same, and yet his mother’s words had served to soothe his nerves, if only just a little.  
He waved back at them as he hit the stairs into the gymnasium, watching the car disappear from sight before taking a deep breath and heading inside.  
It was crowded but he’d expected that, navigating through the seemingly endless throngs of people and reaching the wall beside one of the main doors into the central court. He leaned back against it and pulled his phone out.

Sent - 11:23  
I’m here. Should I go straight through to find a seat or did you want to meet before hand?

He tapped at the sides of his phone as he waited for the reply, watching all of the kitted out teenagers from schools around the area as they passed by or stood bunched together in their respective teams, talking amongst themselves. Some looked nervous while others looked excited and some others looked completely calm.  
Keiji could tell who the third years were for each team, bigger built and looming over everyone else with strong jaws and toned muscles.  
Keiji felt awfully small and was immensely grateful when his phone vibrated in his hand.

Kou – 11:26  
nonono!! i’ll cm meet u,, whr u @???

Keiji smiled down at his phone, shaking his head slightly.

Sent – 11:27  
In the lobby, by the main doors.

He waited there for a little while, people watching, his fingers drumming a nervous pattern into his thigh. His heart was in his stomach and his throat felt awfully tight, giving him trouble whenever he tried to swallow the ridiculous amount of saliva he was suddenly producing though his mouth somehow felt dry.  
He stared down at the ground after a bit, trying to steady his breathing and even out his thrumming heartbeat. It was for this reason that he didn’t see Koutarou until the other boy was right in front of him, sparkling like the North Star.  
“Hey hey hey, Keiji, you’re here!” He boomed, looking positively overjoyed.  
“Hello Koutarou. Did you really think I wouldn’t come?” Keiji smiled back, nerves evaporating at once.  
“Nah! It’s just good to make sure!” The silver-white haired boy grinned. “You look amazing by the way, not that you normally don’t or anything, it’s just, um, even better today?” Koutarou looked away, scratching his cheek nervously as the skin rapidly reddened.  
Keiji had to wait a moment before replying. This really was a date, wasn’t it?  
He cleared his throat, giving Koutarou a coy sideways smile, dipping his face so that he was looking up at the other through his eyelashes. “Thank you, my moms helped me pick it out.” Oh god, did he really just admit that aloud to his (maybe?) date? “And, well you know how well they know fashion.” He finished lamely, thoroughly embarrassed, cursing himself.  
Koutarou chuckled, loud and full, enough so that people were turning to stare. “Oh my god! You’re so cute!” He laughed, looking down at Keiji with eyes like golden flame.  
Keiji stared at him, open mouthed with surprise, for a long moment before grinning right back. “You aren’t so bad yourself, Kou.”  
The older boy went a violent shade of crimson at that and Keiji burst into his own wave of jubilant laughter, though his was softer, more subdued.  
Koutarou stuck his bottom lip out, quite clearly warring to keep that signature grin off of his face, his cheeks visibly twitching with the strain of his efforts. “It’s not nice to laugh at people’s suffering, Keiji.”  
Keiji raised an eyebrow at his best friend, still snickering quietly. “You’re suffering?”  
“Sure am!” Koutarou finally let the grin loose once again, crossing his arms over his chest, looking strangely proud at this announcement.  
Keiji shook his head, sighing out the last of his laughter. “You seem very happy about that, Koutarou. Oh, I have something for you.”  
“Huh? For me? What for?” He leaned over Keiji to try and see what he was pulling out of his rucksack, curiosity rolling off him in waves.  
Keiji batted him away, finding what he was looking for. “Patience is a virtue.”  
“Hey! I’m plenty patient!” The taller boy pouted, stepping back nonetheless.  
Keiji smiled, holding out his offering.  
It was a tiny brown owl phone charm that he’d seen in the store earlier that week and instantly thought of Koutarou, deciding to gift it to him under the guise of a good luck charm.  
Koutarou took it from the younger boy’s palm and stared down at it in awe, bringing it up to his face to inspect it more closely. After a moment, he beamed, the eye crinkly sort, and attached the small owl to his phone.  
“I thought that maybe it’d bring you luck, not that you’ll need it since you’re already the greatest, right?” Keiji mumbled, eyes down, pulling at his fingers nervously.  
“I love it! It looks just like you, Keiji, it’ll definitely bring me luck!” Koutarou exclaimed, pulling the dark haired boy into a tight hug, rubbing his cheek against the soft curls. “‘N I’m only the second greatest, cause you’re the first.”  
Keiji was glad for the fact Koutarou was hugging him to his broad chest since it effectively hid him from sight; his face felt like it had been set alight.  
“Thank you.” He whispered, leaning into the embrace indulgently.  
They broke apart after a long couple of minutes, longer than the average friendly embrace, Keiji noted, both looking distinctly flustered and perhaps even a little shy.  
“You’re team will be missing you. You should go back to them.” Keiji said after a beat, chancing a glance at the other boy.  
Koutarou nodded, his eyes finding Keiji’s and a small smile forming on his lips. It was a different sort of smile, softer, warmer somehow but still bright enough to blind whoever dared look at it for too long.  
Keiji didn’t want to try to attach words to describe this smile, he felt like he may combust if he did.  
“Yeah, okay. Watch me, alright?” Koutarou asked, his voice a perfect double of his expression.  
“Of course.”  
Like I could ever look away, were the words Keiji couldn’t say out loud.  
He waved Koutarou off and made his way to the stands, finding a good spot to sit down in and waiting, watching the techs and support staff hurrying about in preparation for the games.

After a while, the teams finally started entering their respective courts, the announcers naming them as they came out into view, the cheer teams amongst the audience going wild when their team made its appearance.  
When the loud announcement of “Fukurodani Academy” blasted into the gymnasium, Keiji leaned forward to get a better view as the team made their way out.  
There they were, Konoha and Komi and Sarukui and Washio, all looking dwarfed beside the third and second years, heads held high.  
Keiji smiled to himself, watching them made his heart swell and excitement flood his veins.  
Then, of course, there was him. Glowing like a beacon, making the rest of the huge gym fade away.  
His eyes were already fixed on the audience, scanning the faces in search of his quarry.  
Their eyes met.  
Keiji beamed and Koutarou beamed right back, almost dwarfing the sun in his brightness. He looked as though he’d been given everything he’d ever asked for, like right here, in this moment, his life’s mission was complete and he was wholeheartedly satisfied.  
Keiji sat back in his seat, his heart feeling severely swollen within his chest, a smile fixed onto his face so firmly that he feared it may be a permanent fixture.  
He felt the same way.

The crowd was roaring, screaming, whistling and hollering loud enough to make the entire building shake.  
Keiji was with them, on his feet, applauding so hard that his hands hurt but he didn’t care, they’d won and nothing else in the entire world mattered more in this moment.  
Koutarou was yelling too, arms raised in the air, head tilted back like he was basking in heaven’s sunlight. He ran around the court whooping and cheering like no tomorrow, only stopping when he was tackled into a hug by the rest of his team.  
He really was something else, a fallen star walking among men, loud and ridiculous and completely dazzling, pulling everyone around him into orbit, drenching them in his endless warmth and light.  
Keiji felt like his solar system’s earth, in the perfect position to be granted everything he had to offer and not be scorched.  
Maybe he was being presumptuous, putting himself too high up onto a pedestal, letting himself believe he was Koutarou’s favourite among his vast planetary collection, but when the heavenly body in human skin smiled at him like that, how could he not?

Keiji was running, sprinting really, through the steadily moving crowd, ignoring grunts and annoyed protests as he sped past them all.  
Gravity really was something to behold.  
He hit Koutarou like a comet, wrapping himself around the dual-toned haired boy, sweat soaked skin be dammed.  
Koutarou laughed heartily, wrapping his own arms around Keiji’s back and spinning in a circle before pumping a fist into the air.  
“We won!” He yelled.  
Keiji pulled his head back to beam at Koutarou, sure that his eyes were sparkling.  
“You were phenomenal.” He praised, still in Koutarou’s arms, his legs wrapped around the older boy’s waist and arms around his neck.  
Koutarou looked at Keiji like he was something wondrous, like he’d just fallen from the sky into his arms and told him how amazing he was.  
“I could do it cause you were there watching.” He whispered, breathless.  
Keiji laughed, a sound like a tinkling bell to Koutarou’s ears, shaking his head. “No. You’re just that great. The greatest.”  
Koutarou was rendered completely speechless this time, staring at Keiji opened mouthed and starry eyed.  
“Oh my god! Woah woah woah, lovebirds, get a room first would ya?” Came the dramatically disgusted voice of Konoha Akinori from behind Koutarou.  
“Holy shit, did you guys finally realise you’re in love with each other? Gross. Congrats.” Komi’s currently disembodied voice chimed in, sounding smug.  
Keiji felt his face burst into flames and he detached himself from Koutarou much too quickly, almost hitting the ground if the latter hadn’t caught him, steadying him on his feet before turning around to grin at his teammates.  
“You’re just jealous.” He proclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and lifting his chin in a pose of glowing pride.  
“Aw man, you got us.” Konoha sighed, raising his hands in defeat.  
“Busted.” Komi shrugged, shaking his head sadly.  
Keiji was in shock. Had Koutarou just agreed that they were in love? Was he really boasting about it so openly to his friends and teammates? Had Keiji heard that wrong?  
“Oh man! Mothers meeting in the hallway! Can I join? Oh, hey Akaashi.” Sarukui appeared, wearing his trademarked look of bored amusement.  
Keiji managed a tiny nod of recognition, trying to hide his face.  
“Oh, are we teasing our sweet underclassman?” Sarukui’s smile turned devious.  
Konoha grinned and Komi snickered, both making noncommittal gestures in reply.  
“You’re causing traffic. Let’s move before we continue this conversation.” Came Washio’s deep, calm voice, appearing behind Konoha.  
“Alright! Troops, move out!” Koutarou cheered, spinning back around and dragging Keiji along with him up the hall, the rest following suit close behind them, exchanging knowing looks.

They got back to the lobby, crowding into an empty corner of the crowded space and resuming conversation.  
Keiji, having rediscovered his voice, congratulated them all on their victory and kept them all distracted enough to completely avoid the dangerous subject this time.  
After a good fifteen minutes chatting with them, Koutarou ducked out, explaining that he and Keiji had plans and couldn’t hang around.  
Keiji flushed vibrant vermillion, ducking his head to hide from the teasing smirks and raised eyebrows the others were surely sending him. He let himself be led away, nodding a silent goodbye at the rest of the Fukurodani first years, keeping his eyes carefully away from any of theirs.  
Koutarou towed him out onto the street, down the stairs and along the sidewalk for a long stretch before stopping and turning back around to face Keiji, or try to at least since the younger boy was carefully avoiding his gaze.  
“Hey, uh, about what I said back there… if it made you uncomfortable I’m sorry, but I just want you to know that those are my true feelings. I wasn’t just agreeing with them for the joke or anything, I actually like you, like a lot. And I, um, I count today as a date.” He said, voice a little shaky but full of conviction and that unforgivable Bokuto Koutarou earnestness.  
Keiji looked up, deep teal and vibrant gold colliding like heavens and earth.  
“Really?” Keiji asked, soft and unsure.  
Koutarou grinned and Keiji’s heart went supernova. “Really really.”  
Keiji could’ve sworn a filter lifted from his eyes, everything seemed so much clearer, brighter, more vivid. He stared at the boy with tiny suns for irises like he’d never seen him clearly before that moment, he was so overwhelmingly handsome, gorgeous like no other in the history of anything ever. And he’d just told Keiji he liked him, like-liked him.  
“I like you a lot, too.” He replied in a trembling voice.  
Koutarou heaved a dramatic sigh, like the weight of the world had just been lifted off of his shoulders, and dropped his head to rest it on Keiji’s shoulder, entire body relaxing.  
“Thank god. I was so sure it was one sided.” He murmured.  
Keiji laughed, stroking a hand through Koutarou’s dual-toned hair and leaning his cheek against his head. “Really? You really thought I didn’t like you back? I must have a better poker face then I thought.”  
“Mhm. I thought you only liked me as a friend, I felt so bad for liking you like this because I was so sure you wouldn’t like it. I didn’t want to stop being friends over something so dumb either, so I didn’t say anything about it.” Koutarou turned his head to look at Keiji’s face. “Then, when you were at mine on Tuesday and I saw you laughing like that… I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I had to tell you so bad, even if you hated me afterwards it would’ve been okay because at least you would know how I actually felt and I wouldn’t have to pretend not to anymore. Even if you never talked to me again…”  
Keiji shook his head. “Never. That would never happen, it’s impossible. It’s like the earth just walking out of the solar system, it can’t happen, the sun’s pull is too powerful. It could never leave, it’d die.”  
Koutarou watched Keiji with a small smile dancing on his lips. “I’m the sun, huh? Keiji, you’re such a dork.”  
Keiji blushed furiously, turning his face to the side to hide from Koutarou’s watchful gaze.  
Koutarou countered this by lifting his head off of Keiji’s shoulder and taking the younger’s face into his palms, preventing him from looking away. He smiled gently, rubbing circles into the dark haired boy’s cheeks with his thumbs.  
“Don’t hide. I want to look at my favourite dork.” He murmured, golden eyes smouldering.  
Keiji’s eyelids suddenly felt very heavy as he looked up into those blazing orbs, lifting his hands to rest on top of Koutarou’s, loving the warmth the other boy gave off, basking in it like a cat under a kotatsu.  
“We’re so cliché. You’re the buff jock and I’m the shy nerd, everyone is always so surprised in those movies when they end up together, it’s a little funny.” Keiji hummed, smiling.  
Koutarou laughed, waggling his eyebrows. “You can help me with my homework and I’ll bring you to all those cool parties, then you’ll get a makeover with the popular girls and everyone will be all like ‘wow! He’s so pretty without glasses!’”  
“I don’t even wear glasses, Koutarou.”  
“I know, but that’s like a huge part of that cliché, right?”  
Keiji rolled his eyes, laughing. “Yes. And everyone will tell me how much I’ve changed since dating that asshole frat boy and I’ll yell ‘I don’t care, I love him!’”  
“Mmn. So does that mean you wanna be my cute nerdy boyfriend?” Koutarou asked, lifting a silver eyebrow.  
“Only if you want to be my hot, dumb jock boyfriend.” Keiji smirked.  
“Oh hell yeah! I can do keg stands and yell ‘cannon ball!’ whenever I jump in a pool, and then I’ll drag you in after me even though you’re fully clothed.”  
“You’ll be paying for a replacement phone.”  
“A small price to pay.”  
They both dissolved into fits of uninhibited giggles, Koutarou leaning forward to touch their foreheads together.  
Keiji sighed against Koutarou’s skin after they finished laughing, soaking in the moment, knowing how much he’d miss it once it was gone.  
“Let’s go eat.” Koutarou murmured, moving away much too soon, pushing hair out of the other’s face before dropping his hand to twine it together with Keiji’s.  
“That sounds good.” Keiji agreed, smiling fondly at the boy in front of him as he led him along the sidewalk by the hand.  
He’d decided a long time ago that he’d follow Bokuto Koutarou anywhere.

“Hey Keiji?” Koutarou asked through a mouthful of ramen.  
Keiji winced. “Finish eating before you talk, Koutarou.”  
Koutarou did as told, chewing at rapid pace and gulping down the food like a cartoon character.  
“What is it?” Keiji prompted.  
“When you come to high school, you have to do club activities, you know?” The older boy started, watching for Keiji’s nod of recognition before continuing. “Well, since ballet is your out of school thing and there isn’t a club for it in our high school, what club are you gonna join?”  
Keiji thought the question over in his head as he chewed his food, eyes on the ceiling of the ramen place they’d picked to eat at.  
Once he was done chewing, he replied. “I’m not sure. Maybe literature or student council.”  
Koutarou hummed in acknowledgment, playing with his food with his chopsticks, eyes focused on the action.  
“What’s the matter?” Keiji probed, knowing the other boy far too well to ignore the obvious signs of him being troubled.  
“Well… I was thinking that, just for high school! You could play volleyball, with me and the others. It’d be really fun, and you don’t have to worry about not being any good since we’ve played together a million times.” Koutarou explained, a fire lit in his already glowing eyes. “I… I thought I’d be cool, spending so much time together in high school.”  
Keiji watched him with a small smile and slightly raised eyebrows, thinking over the words, the pros and cons of making such a choice.  
“Okay.” He decided. “I’ll do it. But only if you train me over spring break.”  
Koutarou beamed. “Really? Of course! I’ll teach you to be the best ever! You’ll have to call me teacher from here on out, though.”  
“As you wish, teacher.” Keiji bowed his head respectfully.  
“No! Don’t actually do it!!” Koutarou groaned loudly, dropping his face onto the table in front of him. “You’re gonna be my cause of death, you know that? My tombstone’ll say: here lies Bokuto Koutarou, died doing what he loved: Akaashi Keiji.”  
Keiji nearly choked on his egg. “Pardon?”  
Koutarou burst into fits of booming, uncontrollable laughter, tears streaming down his face and fist pounding against the table.  
The server was shooting them dangerous looks from behind the counter and Keiji gave her a low bow and very apologetic smile through his surely crimson face before turning back to the cause of the chaos.  
“Koutarou, that isn’t funny.” He hissed, though he was fighting back a smile.  
“I-it’s hilarious!” He choked through his wheezing laughter, “Your mind went straight into the gutter!”  
Keiji flushed, if possible, even harder. “That was because of your ridiculous wording!”  
Koutarou howled, throwing his head back, entire body wracking with jubilation.  
Keiji cursed the day of his birth.

They took the bus down to the beach after they’d finished eating, making idle conversation, hands constantly entwined.  
They walked along the shore, laughing at dumb jokes or good reactions from the other after being teased.  
Koutarou only disconnected from Keiji to run down the beach to the surf, pulling off his socks and shoes and sprinting into the water with not even the slightest hesitation. His laughter was loud, filling the air around them and Keiji was half tempted to join him though the typical October chill in the air and the ominous clouds overhead kept him from following through.  
“Kou it’s freezing! You’ll get sick!” He called out to the other boy, wading around in the salty water, now up to his mid thigh.  
Koutarou turned to grin back at Keiji, putting his hands on his hips in that stupid heroic pose. “I barely even feel it!” He yelled back, puffing out his chest.  
Keiji rolled his eyes and sat down in the sand, several feet away from the surf, leaning forward with his arms folded atop his knees and his chin resting on his arms.  
“It’s going to rain.” He mused aloud, eyeing the rapidly darkening sky with misgivings.  
“Let’s go find shelter then!” Koutarou grinned, somehow suddenly right in front of Keiji, thoroughly drenched from the waist down, reaching out a hand.  
Keiji took it, allowing himself to be heaved up and letting his fingers lace through Koutarou’s once again. “Where do you suggest?”  
“Oho ho! This is the fun bit!” Koutarou waggled his grey eyebrows. “I have no idea! Run!”  
And they were off, sprinting down the beach, hand in hand, Koutarou laughing like a maniac and Keiji screaming as the sky finally unloaded on them, giving chase to the two boys as they desperately tried to outrun the downpour. It was in vain, of course, they were both caught up in it and soaked through within seconds.  
Koutarou dragged Keiji up to the tiny hut like structures that lined this part of the beach, Keiji wasn’t entirely certain what they were for exactly since they were too small for boats and always seemed to be empty.  
Koutarou heaved the chipped wooden door of one of the cleaner looking ones open and threw a slab of plywood that had been propped up against the wall onto the ground dry side up, making a semi decent floor. He gestured Keiji in first, squeezing into the small space beside him and leaning back against the back wall, watching the rain hitting the ocean outside, his hair sopping wet, hanging over his golden eyes.  
Keiji shuffled slightly, tugging at his drenched jumper in distaste. “Well, this is… quaint.” He commented dryly.  
Koutarou snorted, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “What do you mean? I think a tiny boat shack is a perfect place for a first date. And I mean, look at that view!”  
As if on cue, the rain got even heavier, completely obscuring the view of the sea six metres away and a deep roll of thunder sounded from very close by.  
The comedic timing of it all sent Keiji into orbit.  
His laughter filled the cramped space, his shoulders shaking with mirth, enough so that he jostled Koutarou, and his vision blurred over with tears. He lifted a hand to cover his face, trying desperately to regain his composure, worried that he’d come across as rude for laughing so heartily at something Koutarou had said to lift the mood.  
Of course, the worry was completely baseless.  
Koutarou grinned, lifting his head back up and glancing at Keiji with heavily lidded eyes, white eyelashes fanned over brilliant gold.  
“Can’t make this stuff up, huh?” He mused, looking very pleased with himself.  
Keiji raised his eyebrows at his counterpart, snickering. “Your life is a sitcom, Kou.”  
“Maybe.” He turned to fully face Keiji, the cramped space causing their faces to be only a few inches apart, their shoulders pressed together. “You’re in it too, you know?”  
“Ah yes, main supporting cast.” Keiji smiled.  
“Mmm… I was thinking more like love interest.”  
Keiji blushed but didn’t look away. “Childhood friends to lovers… that’s a cliché too.”  
“You read too much.”  
“You don’t read anywhere near enough.”  
Another roll of thunder, this time chased immediately by a flash of lightning.  
“I’m a seventeen year old boy, I don’t have time to read.”  
“Yes and I’m only four-hundred and forty-one days younger than you and I thoroughly enjoy reading.”  
“Woah, you actually worked that out?”  
“We’re best friends, of course I did.”  
Koutarou huffed a laugh, warm breath tickling Keiji’s skin. “That’s such a you thing to say.”  
“Well, I am me after all. It’s good to keep to the script Koutarou.”  
“I think it’s more in character for me to just wing it. What’s the word for that? There is one, isn’t there?”  
“Improvisation. And yes, I agree. It’s very you.”  
Koutarou laughed, leaning his head against the back wall once again, eyes dropping shut.  
Keiji smiled, wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his cheek atop his knees, watching the pouring rain just outside their little refuge.  
Thunder continued to roll through the area, lightning following it up more often than not, and the rain only let up slightly, still coming down in persistent sheets.  
The two boys sat in comfortable silence, enjoying the ambiance and one another’s company, just waiting out the weather beneath their tiny borrowed roof.

Eventually, after what must have been at least several hours, Keiji’s phone buzzed in his pocket and Koutarou, who up until that point could’ve passed off as being asleep, opened his eyes to gaze at the younger boy as he pulled the device out.  
“It’s my mom. She’s asking if we need to be picked up.” Keiji said, squinting to read the message.  
Koutarou glanced outside with a wry smile. “I mean, unless you wanna camp out in here for the night?” Golden eyes found dark teal once again.  
Keiji smiled and nodded, turning back to his phone to send his reply.  
Ten minutes later, the two were sprinting along the promenade, arms over their heads as thunder rumbled with menace all around them.  
They spotted the lights of Mei’s car in the parking lot and Koutarou let out a ridiculous whooping sound, straightening his arms to hold his fists up in the air as they ran.  
Keiji laughed, keeping pace with the older boy with ease, water splashing up his ankles as their feet hit puddles and a shiver running up his spine as the sky was once again lit up by lightning.  
They got to the car and threw themselves into the back seats, panting and soaked through all over again, huffing laughter, falling over each other in tired relief.  
“Have fun?” Mei asked, grinning back at them like the Cheshire Cat.  
“Yes.” Keiji breathed, smiling up at his mother with water streaking down his face from his hair.  
“It was great.” Koutarou beamed, pushing his own sopping locks out of his eyes.  
Mei chuckled as she reversed out of the parking lot. “Good. Now let’s get you boys home before you catch colds.”

That night, Keiji lay in bed with his eyes fixed on the ceiling.  
It was pitch black outside, the rain still coming down steadily though the thunder had moved on, only the odd distant rumble now, the lightning completely absent.  
Keiji’s phone vibrated on his chest and he lifted it up to squint at the too-bright screen, reading over the new message.

Kou – 00:56am  
>today was rly fun,, i’m so glad u like me back!!! it’s rly weird lol, y do u like me??

Keiji smiled sleepily, sighing into the silence of his bedroom.

Sent – 00:58am  
>I’m not sure. I once read that we often become infatuated with that that we don’t understand, wanting to learn more about such phenomena. That’s why we go into space and explore the ocean and forests, we always want to know more, to completely understand the things that elude us.

Kou – 00:59  
>woah thts a lot of big words,,, u sound like some old guy giving a lecture @ a museum or smthn  
>i thnk u need 2 sleep lol,, nighty night keiji <3

Keiji rolled his eyes.

Sent – 01:00am  
>Sleep well, Kou  
> <3

*~*~*~*  
16 Years old.  
June

Keiji slumped onto the bench, panting with sweat covering every inch of his body. He pulled his towel over to him and draped it over his head, leaning back against the wall and letting himself drift into a slight daze, eyes fixed on the plush white fabric surrounding him.  
“I really don’t know how you do it.” Konoha sounded annoyingly awed, Keij felt him standing beside him.  
“You don’t have the patience of a saint like our precious Akaashi, you’d never understand.” Komi laughed from somewhere nearby, on the other side of Keiji from Konoha.  
“Also he’s a young and spritely first year. Oh, the power of youth.”  
Keiji aimed his leg just right and kicked hard, making contact and feeling a great rush of satisfaction at the pained Yelp that followed.  
“Please be quiet, Sarukui-san. I feel like I’m forty-two on most days.” He deadpanned from beneath his towel palace.  
There was laughter from all three present and Keiji felt someone slip down onto the bench beside him.  
“True. You’re like team mom.” Konoha sounded like he was smirking.  
“What a dysfunctional familial environment .” Keiji replied.  
Komi might’ve been choking on his water bottle.  
“Bokuto’s asking for you, Akaashi.” Washio’s deep, calming voice joined the fleet and Keiji grimaced though he knew they couldn’t see it.  
“Story of your life, eh Akaashi?” Sarukui mused, announcing himself as the one sitting beside him.  
Keiji sighed, pulling the towel off of his face and squinting into the obnoxious brightness of the school gymnasium.  
Sarukui was beside him on the bench, leaned back against the wall with his eyes on the high ceiling, Konoha was stood slightly off to the left in front of Keiji with Washio beside him and Komi was on the right, chugging out of his water bottle like he’d just trekked through a desert.  
Across the vast space, Keiji could see Koutarou, ball held against his hip, laughing at something Suzumeda had just said, Shirofuku standing with the two of them with a hazy smile, staring into space.  
Keiji stood up, stretching his arms up over his head, feeling distinctly sleepy.  
Konoha grinned, handing him his water bottle. “You could always just say no, you know?”  
Keiji took a long drink, frowning slightly at nothing in particular.  
“He’s basically a monk, he’s devoted his whole life to our prized ace.” Komi smirked, putting his bottle down and rolling his shoulders, throwing his head back.  
“Aw, leave him alone. He’s in looove~” Sarukui said, dragging out the final syllable to a ridiculous degree, wiggling his eyebrows and making obnoxious kissy noises.  
Washio rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and shaking his head in quiet disapproval. “You should go to him before he goes into one of his moods.” He told Keiji, voice rumbling like thunder though it was permanently calm in cadence.  
Keiji nodded, putting his towel and water bottle down in the bench and bobbing his head to them in acknowledgement before he headed over to the group of the final three second years.  
Washio had been right, Koutarou was looking slightly restless as Keiji approached, shifting his body much too often to be natural, a distinct furrow in his silver brows, only half paying attention to the two managers.  
Keiji smiled exasperatedly at the sight, picking up his pace so he reached them just a little quicker.  
Koutarou’s posture instantly relaxed upon his arrival, his expression softening and the line between his eyebrows smoothing out completely.  
“Keiji.” He smiled, his voice like melted chocolate, all sweet and warm and smooth.  
“I’m back.” Keiji greeted, returning the expression his boyfriend was directing at him, bobbing his head.  
“Oh good! I was getting a little worried there! You need any help are you guys all good for now?” Suzumeda asked with a smile, eyes dancing with knowing light.  
“We’re fine. Thanks Kaori.” Koutarou grinned, puffing out his chest.  
“Okie dokie, c’mon Yukie, let’s go.” And with that, the two girls headed off to join the rest of the second years gathered around the benches, leaving the two boys alone.  
“Hey hey hey you.” Koutarou hummed, moving closer to Keiji and taking his hands into his own. “I missed you.”  
Keiji smiled softly at his boyfriend, running his thumb along the other boy’s knuckles, the gap between them now only a few inches. “I was only away for five minutes, Koutarou, how could you have possibly missed me in such a short amount of time?”  
Koutarou pouted. “I always miss you when you’re not with me, doesn’t matter how long it’s been.”  
“Ah. So you miss me when you should be doing your class work? That’s very irresponsible.” Keiji murmured, their foreheads now touching.  
“It’s not my fault! I can’t help it, I just get so distracted thinking about you. Urgh, why weren’t I born a year later?” Koutarou lamented, eyes on their intertwined hands between them, granting Keiji a spectacular view of those snowy white eyelashes.  
“If that had been the case it wouldn’t have been you. It would’ve been some other assorted Bokuto child, perhaps another girl.”  
“Would you still love me if I was a girl?”  
Keiji thought for a moment, it was a difficult question. He was very much romantically interested in boys and had never felt any such feelings for a girl at any point. Keiji was certain he was gay, but when it came to Koutarou, gender really wouldn’t matter.  
“Yes. Though, I think you’d be the one exception to that rule.”  
Koutarou beamed, so bright Keiji had to squint. He was having to squint a lot more than usual nowadays.  
“Let’s get some practice done.” Keiji smiled, pulling away much to Koutarou’s chagrin.  
They spent the rest of the evening doing as they did everyday after school, Keiji would throw a toss and Koutarou would spike it. They’d do this for hours, long after everyone else left and a couple of times even until the school janitor came to usher them out.  
Time didn’t seem real when Keiji was with Koutarou, which was more often than not. Sometimes hours seemed like mere minutes and in others a week felt like a month.  
They managed to get out of the gym while the sun was still actually visible in the sky, dyeing it warm gold and vibrant orange above them, the soft clouds a delicate pink.  
They walked hand-in-hand, Koutarou talking about everything and nothing at all all at once, gesturing wildly with his free hand.  
Keiji listened religiously, chiming in where necessary and finding himself laughing often. He always did with Koutarou, it was impossible not to.  
They’d been dating for eight months now but not much had changed other than the hand holding and cuddling, they hadn’t even kissed yet. Keiji wasn’t exactly sure why they hadn’t but he knew that he was a little glad for it. He had no idea how to kiss and whenever he thought about it he dissolved into a nervous mess. He’d heard much too many cases in which a bad first kiss was the reason the couple had never seen each other again and he was not willing to risk it.  
What if he was terrible? Koutarou was much too soft on Keiji to tell him if that were to be the case but that’d just mean he was only pretending to enjoy kissing him whenever they would kiss and Keiji couldn’t handle that possibility.  
Plus, Koutarou hadn’t made any moves to either so clearly he didn’t want to kiss Keiji.  
And that was fine.  
If he didn’t want to then that was perfectly okay but what if it was just because it was Keiji? What if he just didn’t want to kiss him specifically?  
“Hey, what’s wrong?”  
Keiji looked up with a start to see those glorious golden eyes watching him closely, concern etched into silver brows.  
“I- Uh, it’s nothing. I’m fine. What were you saying? I’m sorry.” Keiji replied, shaking his head to clear away the negative thoughts.  
Koutarou stopped walking and released Keiji’s hand, instead taking both of his shoulders and peering into his eyes fixedly, searching their shadowy teal depths.  
“There’s definitely something bothering you. What is it? Is it about me? Is that why you don’t wanna talk about it?” He asked, voice quiet and slightly scared sounding though he was doing well to keep it contained.  
“No no no, it’s nothing like that. I was just thinking about some… superfluous things. It’s nothing to worry about, I promise.” Keiji soothed, taking Koutarou’s face into his hands, stroking small circles into his cheeks with his thumbs.  
“You’ve said that before…” Koutarou pouted, leaning into the touch.  
“Yes, I have. That was when I was in love with you and I thought I couldn’t tell you.”  
“Oh… oh! Hey, wait! Then that means… that thing you promised you’d tell me one day, that was..?”  
Keiji nodded, a small smile on his lips.  
“Why didn’t you tell me that! I was worrying about that for forever!” Koutarou whined, wilting.  
“I’m sorry Kou, would you believe me if I told you that I… forgot?” Keiji felt awful, he’d completely forgotten about that promise what with the whole actually dating thing, rendering that promise useless now.  
“Oh my god! Keijiiii!” Koutarou dropped his head against Keiji’s collar bone, whining loudly. “I was so sure it was this huge, world changing revelation that I should be super worried about but it’s just that you love me… I already know that!”  
Keiji chuckled, running a hand through his boyfriend’s hair. “Sorry to disappoint.”  
Koutarou shook his head against him, showing no signs of wanting to move.  
“In that case, what was the thing you were going to tell me in return?”  
Koutarou turned his head to the side to look up at Keiji with a coy smile. “Oh… well… it was that I love you, too.”  
Keiji burst into laughter, dropping his head to rest against his boyfriend’s. “We’re terrible.”  
“Yeah… I guess I can’t really be mad anymore, then, huh?”  
Keiji smiled, nosing against Koutarou’s cheek. “You can be mad if you’d like. It’d be interesting to see how long it’d last.”  
“Keijiiii!”

*~*~*~*  
August

Keiji flopped down onto his bed with a groan.  
“It’s too hot!” He grumbled.  
Koutarou giggled, sitting down beside him on the bed cross-legged and began stroking Keiji’s hair gently, raking his fingers through the sweat-damp curls.  
Keiji leaned into the sensation, humming contentedly.  
“That’s why we’re going to the beach. Stop grumbling, we’re leaving soon.” Koutarou told him softly, leaning down to bump their foreheads together.  
Keiji wrinkled his nose, opening his eyes to peer up at his boyfriend. “Don’t, I’m covered in sweat.”  
Koutarou chuckled, repeating the action just to irritate his grumpy boyfriend further.  
“Like I care!”  
Keiji sighed, reaching up a hand to rest it against the one Koutarou still had in his hair, turning his face sideways to further nuzzle into the touch. “You should. I’m disgusting.”  
Koutarou gasped, scandalised. “My Keiji? Disgusting? Never in billion years! Not even then! That’d be completely impossible!”  
“You’re ridiculous.”  
“Mhm, and I’m your ridiculous!”  
“That… doesn’t make any sense?”  
“Are you asking or telling?”  
Keiji groaned again, rolling away from his boyfriend, grabbing one of his pillows and burying his face in it, sighing at the feeling of cool fabric against his scorched skin.  
“Hey! Don’t run away! You can’t hide from me, Keiji, I’ll resort to drastic measures if I have to!” Koutarou called, scurrying after him on his hands and knees.  
Keiji, knowing exactly what that meant, threw his pillow right at Koutarou and leapt off of the bed, fleeing out of the room and thundering down the stairs, hearing Koutarou’s ominous footsteps pounding after him and letting out a yelp of combined fear and exhilaration.  
His moms weren’t home so the house was completely empty other than them which was excessively lucky, in Keiji’s opinion, as he ran into the living room and dived to the other side of the table to put a solid object between him and his pursuer.  
Koutarou swung around the doorway, a mad glint in his fiery eyes as he stared Keiji down across the room.  
“Why’re ya runnin’, Keiji?” He asked, grinning.  
Before Keiji could respond, he bounded over the table and tackled Keiji onto the ground, looming over him with triumph radiating off of him in waves.  
“Kou, Kou, Kou!” Keiji protested, shoving at the larger boy as his hands found his waist and began their assault. “No! G-get off! K-Kou!” He choked, laughter almost drowning him, writhing beneath his partner’s touch.  
Koutarou laughed, stilling his tickling escapades to instead hold Keiji’s waist firmly against the ground, looming over the breathless boy with a devilish grin.  
“Wh-what’re you doing?” Keiji asked, what breath he still possessed catching in his throat as he stared up into those lamp like eyes, fixed so intently on his face.  
“I love you,” Koutarou said, strong and loud and sure, not taking his eyes off of his quarry for even a second.  
Keiji smiled, reaching up to take his boyfriend’s face into his palms. “I love you too.” He replied, quieter but just as certain.  
Koutarou smiled, softer, more affectionate. “Can I kiss you?” He asked, eyes dropping to Keiji’s mouth for a moment to accentuate the query.  
Keiji nodded, pulling Koutarou’s face down to meet his, finally.  
The kiss was gentle and experimental, just the slightest soft press of lips, testing out the sensation. They separated after only a moment, faces still practically touching, gold seeking out teal.  
“Was that okay?” Koutarou asked, quiet, unsure.  
Keiji huffed a small laugh, stroking his boyfriend’s cheek with his fingertips. “It was perfect, everything with you is.”  
Koutarou grinned, touching their noses together. “Can we do it again?”  
“From now on, you don’t have to ask.” Keiji replied, voice little more than a whisper as Koutarou once again closed the space between them.  
This kiss was stronger, more defined. It was still tender, warm and sweeter than anything Keiji had ever tasted but there was a little more certainty behind it, less hesitation.  
It was also longer, they kissed for a solid three minutes before Koutarou retracted again, glowing like the full moon, sparkling like the rarest diamond.  
“We… we should get ready… to go, I mean. The beach, um…” He rambled, slightly dazed.  
Keiji laughed, rolling his eyes and shoving at his boyfriend’s chest. “Get up then or neither of us will be able to.”  
Koutarou seemed to just now realise the position they were in, Keiji lying flat on the floor with him hovering over him on his hands and knees. He jumped back, spluttering, face going a rather pretty shade of scarlet.  
Keiji sat up, watching his boyfriend as he tried desperately to form coherent sentences, waving his hands around madly in front of him, searching for something only he could find.  
“Kou. We need to get ready.” Keiji smiled, getting to his feet and padding over to the doorway out of the room, glancing back at his steaming puddle of boyfriend over his shoulder.  
Koutarou started like he’d just gotten an electric shock and stared blankly at the empty space in front of him for a moment before he grinned once again and followed after Keiji, a dumb little lovesick look on his face.  
Keiji sighed. This boy really was his ridiculous.

They met the rest of the Fukurodani second years at the promenade, all of whom looked just as ready to melt into the scalding pavement as Keiji.  
They exchanged brief, exhausted greetings before heading down onto the section of beach they’d agreed on. It was just out of the way enough that most people didn’t bother trekking all the way over to it so they didn’t have to worry about leaving their things unattended or getting watched by creepy strangers.  
They reached their spot and set up their things, the smaller half of the group collapsing onto the sand or their beach towels while the rest sprinted at the sea full pelt.  
Keiji was part of the former party.  
He melted into his beach towel and groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the relentless sunlight.  
“If you went in the sea I’m sure you’d feel much cooler.” Sarukui smirked from his spot on the towel beside Keiji, lying on his back with his arms crossed beneath his head, eyes closed behind his sunglasses.  
“In a bit, I need to lay down for a year first.” Keiji grumbled.  
Konoha laughed from his place on the other side of Keiji. He was sat up on his towel, leaning back on his arms with his legs stretched out, head tilted back.  
“I think if anyone’s earned a break it’s you.” He agreed.  
“Why aren’t you two going in?” Keiji murmured.  
“Hate seaweed.” Sarukui replied easily.  
“Keeping you company.” Konoha amended.  
“You don’t have to do that. Wouldn’t you rather be with Washio-san?” Keiji asked, moving his arm away slightly to glance at the blonde.  
He shrugged. “We’re babysitting.”  
Keiji sat up and glared at the older boy to which he got a hearty laugh.  
“I don’t need constant surveillance, thank you, Konoha-san.” Keiji hissed.  
“Eh, what kind of babysitter would I be if I listened to the kid?” Konoha grinned and Keiji huffed, slumping back down onto his towel.

After a while, Suzumeda came sprinting back up the beach to them, smiling wide as she sat down on her towel.  
“You three are so antisocial. What’re you even doing? Tanning?” She laughed.  
Konoha and Sarukui grunted in assent, waving lazy hands at her in recognition.  
Keiji hummed, turning the page of the book he’d brought with him, squinting hard at the words to read them clearly.  
“Mr responsible over here brought a book to the beach.” Sarukui drawled, gesturing at Keiji dismissively.  
“And I just have to sit here and watch.” Konoha lamented.  
“You don’t have to, Konoha-san, you can leave at any time.” Keiji countered.  
“Akaashi, do you need glasses?” Suzumeda asked suddenly, watching how he glared down at the paperback like it’d wronged him severely.  
Keiji glanced up at her, blinking rapidly. That thought had never occurred to him before, not seriously anyway.  
“Maybe…” He replied, putting his bookmark against the margin and setting the book down on his towel.  
“Akaashi with glasses? I’m not sure the world could handle such an event.” Sarukui said, smirking.  
“Well he is always squinting at things recently, you’ll get wrinkles if you keep that up, you know?” Konoha grinned at Keiji as he got to his feet.  
The younger boy glared at him before looking back out to sea where the rest of the group were assembled.  
Koutarou was only visible from the shoulders up, hair drenched and hanging loose, watching the rest quietly. That in itself was strange enough to drive Keiji forward.  
“Oh cool! Are we finally joining the party?” Konoha queried, clambering up after him.  
“Have fun, kiddies! Don’t drown unless you’re part of a willing mouth-to-mouth buddy system.” Sarukui called after them, waving them off lazily.  
Suzumeda rolled her eyes and began digging through her beach bag.  
Keiji was a man on a mission, he hit the water at speed and waded as far as he could before taking a deep breath and going under. He swam through the refreshingly icy waters, pushing through the gentle waves as he closed in on his target.  
Once he reached his mark, Keiji breached the surface once again, shaking wet curls out of his eyes.  
Koutarou stared at him for a good ten seconds with his mouth hanging open before he grinned and dove straight onto Keiji, wrapping his arms around the younger boys waist and lifting him up so that he was tilting his head back in order to meet his teal eyes.  
Keiji smiled right back, resting his hands on Koutarou’s shoulders, which seemed to be getting broader by the day, and leaning down to touch their noses and foreheads together, closing his eyes contentedly.  
“What’s wrong?” Keiji asked softy, opening his eyes a little to watch Koutarou’s expression.  
“Nothing. Why?” Koutarou replied, looking up at his boyfriend with innocent curiosity.  
“Mmn. You were kind of drifting away from everyone, I was concerned. Usually you’re the life and soul of gatherings like this.” Keiji explained, lifting his chin to plant a soft kiss to Koutarou’s salty-damp hair covered forehead.  
“You’re gonna laugh.” Koutarou pouted.  
“Well, that depends. I most likely will if it’s something only you would do.” Keiji grinned, looking down into golden pools of light with a raised eyebrow.  
“You will. It’s cause you weren’t here, I felt… I don’t know, kinda weird without you.” Koutarou admitted, looking away from Keiji, turning pink.  
Keiji sighed, exasperated, fond. “How about now?”  
Koutarou turned back to beam at Keiji like the blaze of a comet plummeting straight into the earth. “Now I wish it was just us.”  
Keiji would be lying if he denied that a tiny part of him secretly agreed with Koutarou, wishing they were perfectly alone right now with no hawk eyed friends watching them from every direction, biding their time, collecting material to hold over them for the next decade.  
“We should be social.” Keiji said firmly, giving Koutarou a stern look.  
Koutarou pouted dramatically, lowering Keiji back into the water so that he was floating along in the waves beside him. “Fine. Let’s go.”

The rest of the beach trip was spent in a whirl of swimming races and water volleyball. They got shaved ice and rock pooled, Koutarou standing triumphant with a crab so large Keiji was scared for his boyfriend’s fingers’ safety.  
By the time the sun was sinking into the tangerine sea, all eight of them lay sprawled out on the opalescent sand, considerably more sun kissed and completely immobile with blissed out exhaustion.  
Keiji lay on his back, Koutarou’s head on his chest, strong arms wrapped around his middle, idly stroking his fingers through pale silver and black hair. His eyes were half lidded, fixed on a wispy cloud that drifted directly overhead, pigmented a soft golden-peach in the dying sunlight.  
“I love you guys.” Komi murmured, face down in the sand, limbs sprawled out in all directions.  
“You’re such a sap.” Konoha sighed, laying perpendicular against Washio, head pillowed on his stomach, eyes closed.  
“And you’re not?” Sarukui laughed, incredulous.  
“Who said it was an insult?” Konoha countered, tilting his head back into Washio’s hand, currently carding through his dirty blonde hair.  
“Oh, will you idiots shut up? I love you too, ugh.” Shirofuku groaned from her spot beneath Suzumeda, who was currently curled into her like a cat, snoozing with a blissful smile.  
“Sound a little more happy about it, would ya?” Komi snickered, rolling away when Shirofuku aimed a kick at his head.  
“She’s resigned to her fate. As have I.” Keiji mused, eyes still on the sky.  
“You make it sound like we just forced you to join a convent.” Sarukui accused.  
“More like a cult.” Shirofuku scoffed under her breath and Keiji grinned.  
“We need to do this again.”  
Everyone hummed in agreement, comfortable quiet taking hold once more, nothing more than the sounds of rushing waves and the distant calls of seagulls between them.  
Keiji glanced down at Koutarou and saw that he was smiling, soft and pure, eyes still closed. Keiji smiled too, turning his eyes back to the endless sky, completely at peace.

*~*~*~*  
October

Keiji sat on the floor of the dance studio he had always practiced in, staring at his reflection in the mirror-panelled wall.  
He wore his usual black leotard, his hair pushed back by a headband, fingers wrapped in tape.  
He remembered when he was a child, first learning how to dance. It seemed so far away now. The frustration he’d felt at not being able to move his body correctly, the pain in his feet, the blood soaked ballet slippers.  
His mother had been concerned when he’d first told her that he’d be playing volleyball in high school, worried that he was taking on too much what with ballet and schoolwork on top of it. He’d assured her that he’d be fine, he could handle it.  
Keiji looked down at his hands, they were shaking, teardrops speckled their surface.  
It wasn’t a lie, he could handle it. All of it. He had to, he couldn’t quit, not one thing.  
He got to his feet, swaying a little at first but steadying himself immediately, getting into starting position and taking a deep breath.  
Dancing helped, it always had before.

*~*~*~*

“You look exhausted.” Konoha commented blandly over his water bottle.  
Keiji sighed. He was.  
“I am. But I’ll manage.” He replied, putting his own bottle down and heading back onto the court.  
Koutarou was watching him with worried eyes, spinning the ball in his hands restlessly. Keiji gave him what he hoped to be a placating smile though it felt weak and half-hearted on his face.

“We should go home early today” The taller boy said firmly after several wonky sets on Keiji’s part.  
Keiji felt his stomach plummet but the haze over his mind won out and he nodded in defeat.  
He followed Koutarou home, just like he always did, except that this time they weren’t joined at the hands. The older boy walked slightly ahead, hands in his pockets, head down, Keiji couldn’t see his face. He wanted desperately to apologise, to take his hand and be steadied within his orbit once again, but he couldn’t.  
His hands were numb and his head was swimming.  
They got to their street quicker than usual, the sun still hung high in the sky.  
Keiji hated it.  
Koutarou paused in front of Keiji’s house, turning slightly to the side, still not meeting Keiji’s eyes.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.” He said, too quiet.  
Keiji nodded, his tongue felt like a weight and his legs weren’t much better.  
Koutarou dipped his head and walked on once more, disappearing up his own front yard and into the house next door.  
Keiji knew he looked bad when both of his mothers stared at him like he was a ghost. He gave them a weak smile, still unable to regain his vocal faculties, and headed straight upstairs to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.  
He walked over to his window and stared out over the town he’d lived in for his whole life, out over the sea on the furthest horizon, into the sun. He didn’t care that it hurt, didn’t care that he was blinded by it’s light, all he cared about was that it was still there, still visible in the vast expanse of powder blue sky.  
He cursed it, wished it wasn’t there, wished it had set hours ago just like always when he got home from practice.  
It didn’t feel right.  
He stayed at his window for hours, watching the flaming mass sink further and further down the sky, until it sank beneath the ocean and vanished completely.  
He needed to sleep.

Keiji was glad that it was the weekend. He wouldn’t have to go outside on a weekend. He could stay in bed all day and turn his phone off.  
His mother came in to check on him at noon, seeming to understand how Keiji was feeling, she told him to rest up and left soon after with a soft kiss on the forehead.  
Keiji wanted to sleep forever, his head felt far too heavy, too full, like it was filled with static, slowly driving him insane.

Saturday passed.

Keiji didn’t understand what had happened, had they fought? Was this a fight? Was Koutarou finally bored of him? Had he outlived his usefulness?  
Keiji curled further in on himself, holding his useless phone to his chest like a lifeline.  
There was a knock on the front door, Keiji closed his eyes.  
His mother answered, he was thankful he couldn’t hear what whoever was there was saying.  
After a couple moments there were heavy footsteps on the stairs; he knew those footsteps.  
“Keiji?” Came a quiet voice from just outside his door, it sounded worried, upset.  
Keiji recoiled at the sound of it, a bitter taste covering his tongue.  
It wasn’t right.  
“I’m coming in, okay?” Koutarou called and the door clicked open.  
Keiji went still, bundled beneath his blankets, facing the opposite wall to the door.  
Slow, quiet footsteps entered the room and he heard the door click shut once again before the careful pressure of a hand on his shoulder and another body on his bed.  
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I’m here now. I’m sorry about Friday, and yesterday. I wanted to give you a break, I was scared I was smothering you or something. You always work so hard and you never take breaks, you won’t quit even when you’re overworked and you barely get any sleep. I… I wanted to give you breathing room, so maybe you wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed anymore.” Koutarou murmured, his voice far too fragile.  
Keiji couldn’t take it.  
He threw the blankets away and sat bolt upright, staring at the older boy with such fierce intensity that the recipient visibly shrank.  
“Koutarou. You are my break. You are my breathing room. I don’t need space, I haven’t needed space since I was seven years old and I’m not about to start again. I’m sorry I made you feel as though you were a burden to me but that couldn’t be further from the truth. All the stress, the overwork and exhaustion, it’s all worth it when I’m with you. I know that I’m eccentric, I really should learn to calm down and take things slowly but I enjoy everything I’m doing at the moment and I really don’t want to give any of it up. Not volleyball, not ballet, and certainly not you. I’ll learn how to be more responsible, so please… don’t leave me.”  
Koutarou looked stricken. He threw himself at Keiji with the force of a shooting star and hugged him so tightly that it was as though he was scared he’d disappear if he didn’t hold him down.  
“I would never! Like I even could! It was so hard not talking to you, I couldn’t stop worrying all day and I had to delete like a million texts I was gonna send you. I’m sorry, Keiji, I just ended up upsetting you more than making you feel better.” He mumbled into Keiji’s shoulder, his whole body trembling.  
Keiji patted the back of his head soothingly, leaning into the embrace. “Your heart was in a good place, it always is. At least now we’ve talked it all out and we’re on the same page again.”  
Koutarou nodded, leaning back to look at Keiji with damp eyes. “I’m sorry I’m such a handful.”  
Keiji smiled, taking his boyfriend’s face between his palms. “Luckily, I have two hands.”  
Koutarou grinned, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. “I love you.”  
“I love you more.”  
Koutarou snorted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head slightly in disbelief. “No way, I love you the most!”  
Keiji sighed, admitting defeat. “We’ll agree to disagree.”  
They kissed again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there ;)  
> I hope u enjoyed all that,, ik it was loooong lolol but hopefully it was worth it,,,  
> this is my longest written chap so far and so this is the final completed chap in my backlog so from here on I’m writing as I go so updates may be a lil :/ uno eheheh sry  
> i hope u enjoyed the Fukurōdani parts cause omg i love them all sm and i had so much fun writing them :3  
> as always,, tysm for reading!! i love and appreciate u all sm,, be back soon with an update!!! <3


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